island themes?

[ohno dannie]

i was watching a video on how to make your island aesthetic, and he said that the biggest part is to have an island theme to base everything off of...


im trying to find a theme, so if you guys have a theme, tell me what it is and how you decorate!

 

[moon_child]

I’m on the other side of the spectrum who will say the best route is to not have a theme-heavy island and choose an all encompassing, neutral island name so you could pretty much redo your island anytime you want to without wanting to restart again. Sometimes, you’d like a theme now but end up hating it over time or changing your mind several seasons in. That would be a pain. But that’s just my unsolicited advice.

 

[greenvoldemort]

my theme is quite lost right now, but im trying to go for a cluttered natrual look! ive been basing a lot of my ideas from my new leaf town, inspo i find on insta and from youtube island tours!! i recommend you watch island tours definitely!

 

[alpacalypse]

my theme is autumn! at first i wanted to do a bunch of different things with my island, but finally deciding on a single theme helped me narrow things down and not get overwhelmed; it’s also a great starting point whenever you try to decorate new areas! here are some screenshots of my favourite places:

Spoiler

hope this helps c:

 

[Sach]

I'd say just build/put things on your island that you like and a theme will emerge. My island is turning into a movie reference themed island, specifically disaster/horror movies. I'm having alot of fun trying use the limited furniture options to convey a theme that dosent necessarily fit with most of the furniture avaliable. I have a few Jurassic Park themed areas, and I deffinately wanna do something with zombies. And once Halloween rolls around I wanna see if I can get some stuff to build a Nightmare before Christmas themed area.....so yeah just build things you like.

 

[Fendi]

I prefer not to follow a theme, because as others have mentioned, it opens up the possibility of reconstructing your island without having to worry about the design consistency. In a way, I think sticking too rigidly to a theme stifles your ability to simply just design as to how you want. I guess in some aspects, my island was inspired by certain things, like Hollywood and Beverly Hills, but I simply take inspiration and I do not stick to a singular theme.

I think it's helpful for people to have a theme to feel like there would be a direction as to how to decorate the entire island, but I prefer to just do it as I go. It does not necessarily mean that the actual island itself will lack direction in my opinion. But it also comes down to everyone have a different approach to design, where there really is no right or wrong way.

 

[ohno dannie]

I'd say just build/put things on your island that you like and a theme will emerge. My island is turning into a movie reference themed island, specifically disaster/horror movies. I'm having alot of fun trying use the limited furniture options to convey a theme that dosent necessarily fit with most of the furniture avaliable. I have a few Jurassic Park themed areas, and I deffinately wanna do something with zombies. And once Halloween rolls around I wanna see if I can get some stuff to build a Nightmare before Christmas themed area.....so yeah just build things you like.

thats cool! my preferred material is stone (i like stone stairs, bridges, and paths)
so im gonna try n find something that uses that....im gonna see if im able to get some iron fences too

 

[Bugs]

My island is split up into lots of little areas built around a "biomes" theme.

I've got a jungle, a swamp, a forest, and a canyon right now, as well as a hidden beach and a hidden valley. I basically couldn't decide on an overall theme so I thought, whatever! I'm gonna just build all the things that I think would look cool

 

[absol]

hm why and how did you choose your island name?
you probably had something in mind right?

honestly idk what to go for too, either pastel & white, forest or dark & horror

maybe think about more basic stuff like do you want a modern town or a old one without electronics, modern furniture, ...
more city like or wild and focused on nature?

 

[ohno dannie]

my theme is autumn! at first i wanted to do a bunch of different things with my island, but finally deciding on a single theme helped me narrow things down and not get overwhelmed; it’s also a great starting point whenever you try to decorate new areas! here are some screenshots of my favourite places:

Spoiler

View attachment 266792View attachment 266793View attachment 266794

hope this helps c:

is that beaus house?
i wanna do yards for my villagers but my favourite set up is the neighborhood...i kinda wanna do something like this

also yes it does

 

[alpacalypse]

is that beaus house?
i wanna do yards for my villagers but my favourite set up is the neighborhood...i kinda wanna do something like this

also yes it does

it is beau’s house, yes! neighborhoods are a really cute way to group everyone together while still adding a hint of personality to their yards c: if you have to relocate any houses for this, i recommend measuring things out by digging holes with the shovel or or placing custom patterns before doing so o: i know i myself have lost many bells and days to placing a building just one tile off by accident ;w;

 

[ohno dannie]

it is beau’s house, yes! neighborhoods are a really cute way to group everyone together while still adding a hint of personality to their yards c: if you have to relocate any houses for this, i recommend measuring things out by digging holes with the shovel or or placing custom patterns before doing so o: i know i myself have lost many bells and days to placing a building just one tile off by accident ;w;

i measure with shovel holes! if yours are grouped, how far apart are they from each other?

 

[alpacalypse]

i measure with shovel holes! if yours are grouped, how far apart are they from each other?

here’s the distance between coco and beau’s home:

Spoiler

marshal’s house is maybe eight spaces back? i gave him a slightly larger yard though. honestly, i’m kind of going for a natural, slightly disorganized look rather than neat neighborhoods (especially since i have several villagers i want to live outside of the residential area—elvis and ankha in a castle, then frita with her own diner), so i’m not sure how useful this can be c’:

 

[Manah]

Maybe I could get on board with one overarching theme with different design ideas, but otherwise using the same general aesthetic for my whole island sounds immensely boring. Same with having all villagers in one place.

I roughly divided my island into six sections based on what stuff I want to go where. South west will be a flower garden/orchard, south center is a shopping mile/resident serviced/"cultural" kind of area, south east will be a fishing village.
The northern half will have a small town leading up to Redd's beach in the center, a forest and perhaps some Zelda-inspired mountains in the west, and ancient ruins in the east.

Overall, the south half is somewhat inspired by impressions of my real life hometown (looks nothing like it though), while the north half is straight up fantasy/fairytale.

 

[ohno dannie]

Maybe I could get on board with one overarching theme with different design ideas, but otherwise using the same general aesthetic for my whole island sounds immensely boring. Same with having all villagers in one place.

I roughly divided my island into six sections based on what stuff I want to go where. South west will be a flower garden/orchard, south center is a shopping mile/resident serviced/"cultural" kind of area, south east will be a fishing village.
The northern half will have a small town leading up to Redd's beach in the center, a forest and perhaps some Zelda-inspired mountains in the west, and ancient ruins in the east.

Overall, the south half is somewhat inspired by impressions of my real life hometown (looks nothing like it though), while the north half is straight up fantasy/fairytale.

i wanna also do this like, have corners dedicated to specific designs...can i see your map?

 

[Manah]

@ohno dannie
I have to admit I'm phenomenally bad at planning and building, so there isn't a whole lot to see yet...

The part south of Resident Services and the museum hill are really the only things I've done so far. I'll leave the river to the right as it is, the fishing villager will be on the other side of the bridge (I'll spread the houses out a little more) The strip of land north of RS will be a bridge leading into the town, the paths are just markers so I have a rough idea of how much space I'll need. I'll adjust the cliffs and the rest of the river as needed but that depends on where they get in the way while building.

 

[moo_nieu]

I always go for more of a natural look, but when it's still early in the game I just use whatever items I have that I think look nice

 

[AppleBitterCrumble]

mines more town/community themed bc my island name (civitas) means community in Latin.
I have a garden, carnival, marketplace, neighborhood, national park, exercise court (?), star gazing spot, luxury beach lounge, beach cafe, flamingo area, and will probably think of some more things on the way!

 

[sleepydreepy]

My island is inspired by this amazing vacation I had in Hawaii. I absolutely fell in love with the place, and funnily (is that a word) enough I was also watching LOST (tv series) at the time which was filmed in Hawaii. So my island is a combination of those two ideas. I'm also kinda going through a hard time rn in real life so my goal was to make my NH island my "personal paradise"/ tropical escape. I also wanted to change up my aesthetic from my NL town which was soft pastel colors, and this time I wanted to go for more bold colors. I chose a sunset pallet because its one of my fav times of the day. So one way I am incorporating this into my island is by using only blue, purple, and pink flowers and having lots of orange fruit trees, palm trees, and bamboo trees around my island. My island is also more of a natural island as a whole. I've had a really fun time designing my island based on my theme, so I definitely encourage others to also choose a theme to stick to!

 

[Manon_Despoina]

My island will have an ancient Greece (ruins) theme. It will specifically be based on the Greek region of Arkadia, very mountainous and natural with lots of trees and small valleys. I am planning to recreate one sanctuary (that of the goddess Despoina - a daughter of Demeter - in Lycosura) with a temple and various other structures. I will also have an acropolis, theatre, gymnasium, agora (marketplace), graveyard, vineyard, several small village areas for the villagers ... and various little sanctuaries dedicated to other important gods/goddesses of the area (such as Pan).

Don't know yet how I am going to do most of it, but I really like the idea. Hope Nintendo one day decides to put the Greek columns back in the game