Animal Crossing island planner

Want to become a pro Animal Crossing island designer? Follow these tips and tricks.

If you’ve been browsing Animal Crossing island layouts on Twitter and Instagram, you may feel intimidated. I could never make anything that cool on my island, you mutter to yourself.

Stop right there.

Every beautiful island you see on social media started just like yours. Some people may have time-traveled to get there faster, but you too can have a gorgeous island with a little bit of effort. Instead of looking at the final product and thinking it’s too much work, let’s break it down.

ACNH Island Planner – Start Here

Every single island looks a little bit different at the start. Try not to worry too much about where you place things at the beginning – you’ll end up moving it all anyway. A great tool to use to build your dream island is Happy Island Designer.

This tool divides the island up into manageable squares. Build your dream island using this tool and then work on it one square at a time. Take a look at some of the island designs people have produced below.

Have a general idea you want to accomplish with each area you design. Some people cluster their villagers and stores close together while others spread them out. There’s no ‘right’ way to style an island, which is the beauty of being your own ACNH island planner.

Another great resource to have is a building size reference. It can help you create symmetrical designs for your ACNH island layout. This handy building planner shows the height and width of each building in ACNH.

Animal Crossing building sizes

Have Bells For Days

The best tip for Animal Crossing island planner beginners is to have lots of bells. Nearly everything you can do to modify your island will cost bells. Building bridges and inclines will cost an upfront fee – demolishing them costs 10k bells.

None of the costs of building or demolishing are refundable, so keep that in mind when building. Many players who built with no regard for planning are now regretting the bells it takes to demolish and rebuild.

Need some tips for making bells in Animal Crossing? Save your bugs and fish worth serious moola and only sell them to Flick or CJ. Don’t forget to buy turnips from Daisy Mae every Sunday morning. Be quick, though – she’s gone before noon and won’t return for another week.

If you get a great turnip price of over 500, you can sell access to your island to other players. Many will leave donations, water flowers, and drop Nook tickets as a thank you. It’s also a great way to bond with other players and participate in the community.

Some turnip-selling communities:

Plant your money tree every day with at least 10k bells to reap three times the rewards. Not sure what a money tree is? Check out this guide to making bells in Animal Crossing to learn more.

ACNH Island Planner – Patterns

Paths and patterns can really liven up any island design. Luckily, Nintendo included its creation tool in New Horizons and made it easy to share.

You can find hundreds of Animal Crossing patterns on the internet. Reddit, Tumblr, and Twitter are good places to start browsing for creator codes.

Be sure to check out these Animal Crossing patterns designed to complement the default paths. They’re a great place to get some inspiration for your new ACNH island layout.


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