Mine is totally random. I picked the first villagers who I came across on the Island Tours. Currently I have an empty plot, and I'll again pick the first one I come across. I've never had a list of dreamies. Sure, some I like more than others, but what I really want to do is collect everyone's photo.
I first choose my ult dreamies, then afterwards choose villagers that would fit the theme I have in mind for my island...
I usually like to scroll on the personality type of the villagers (since I like having all villager personality types in my island for variety) and save ones that I like on those personalities, then afterwards, narrow them down based on how I like their designs and pick which one will fit my island the best...
Basically ult dreamies - fill in all personality type (so after this you have chosen at least 7 villagers already) - lastly the filler villagers that would fit my island regardless of their personality
That time when i only had 6 villagers in my island, i was aiming to have different species for each villager so it's more diverse. I totally relied on what Campsite or NMT island was going to give me. But at the same time, i wanted to have at least one dream villager to live in my island, so Dotty heard my crying and decided to meet me in NMT island
I'm still relying on random villagers appearing in either Campsite or NMT Island because i'm trying to friend all villagers available in the game
first i check if i have missing personalities - then i pick my favorites from each personality (by design ofc) and to check if their looks matches their persona - for example - i reallly like tabby cuz of her crazy design i think she really matches the peppy vibe.
everytime i speak with her i feel the authenticity of that char. and so on...
I'm relatively picky, and to be frank - shallow, as I wont even give them a chance if I don't think they're cute. Across all villagers and personality types, I have only 13 dreamies. I sort of wish they'd let us have 12 villagers, as I would help me a lot, but alas decisions have to be made.
First, I was only bringing villagers I thought were cute, but then ran into the problem that they were all the same personality type.
To fix this, I started looking at personality types I didn't have, and picking who I thought was the cutest within the type. If I thought two were cute, I would have to make sure they had different personality sub-types.
Then, it would be what their house looked like - both interior and exterior. Was their aesthetic definite or was it middle-of-the-road? I'd rather have quirky than basic. I give each villager a 7x9 plot of land, which is relatively large for decorating. I imagine what can be done in this space to reflect their aesthetic both in style and inside the home.
So I bring them in, decorate, live with them for a while, and see how I vibe with them - and if not, then I start the process over again to select someone new to bring in, and work on removing the other.
One thing that I've learned about my process is that I love villagers with blush (8/10 of my villagers have blush) and I love bear cubs (4/10) and rounded ears (7/10). I don't generally like animals who are bigger than me - Wolves/Hippos/Horses/Tigers/Rhinos/Etc, and I don't like Cranky or Sisterly because I find them patronizing - "Kiddo" is not language I resonate with.
My first 10 I pretty much picked whoever I saw first. And I plan on doing that until I eventually get my dreamies. I want to experience as many villagers/villager types as possible and get to know each individual character. Once I get my 10 permanent villagers(Sherb, Maple, and my dreamies) I'll stop doing this.
My permanent villagers I did pick based on design. I picked the ones I found super cute in one way or another. It was pretty difficult tbh because I find a good majority of villagers pretty adorable. I will say in regards to Chadder that he definitely was not my first choice but I'm adding him because my boyfriend picked him to be on my island (I asked him to choose one villager for my island) I'm really not complaining because I find Chadder as a concept to be pretty amusing. But yeah. Everyone else is totally based on design, and in Peanut and Freya's case, experience.
