Design

Designs are custom-made patterns comprised of 32x32 pixels that can be created in each game (excluding ) through an editing interface. The created design can be applied to clothing, umbrellas, hats, carpeting, and wallpaper. Designs can also be placed as paintings and, from onward, overlaid on the ground. Designs that are placed on the ground will prevent anything from growing or spawning in that tile and, prior to, cause items dropped from trees and fallen balloon presents to disappear if there is not enough space for them to land. In only, players can also place a design on their front door. In and, designs can be used to customize furniture. Befriending Sable in the latter game will unlock a variety of pre-made designs that can be applied to certain furniture.

Designs can be displayed in the Able Sisters where villagers may start wearing them and other players may copy the designs for themselves. In and, each player may hold 8 designs on them at a time, although the latter game allow 64 additional designs to be stored with Mabel. ups the design limit to 10 designs and Mabel will store 72 designs. allows the player to hold 120 designs. allows 40 designs and 40 pro-designs to be held, though this is shared between all players on the island. Mabel no longer stores designs, but the player can upload up to 130 of their own designs to share with other players. Unlike previous games, there is no way for the player to store designs made by others.

Pro designs
Beginning in, pro designs (formatted as Pro designs in ), which are comprised of multiple different patterns that are applied to different parts of clothing, can be created. Tops can comprised of separate patterns for the left sleeve, right sleeve, front, and back. It costs 350 Bells to create a pro design in, 500 Bells in , and is free in , though the Custom Designs app must first be upgraded for 800 Nook Miles.

The categories of pro designs that can be created in is greatly expanded from previous games: • ;Tops

• Tank top

• Short-sleeve shirt

• Long-sleeve dress shirt

• Sweater

• Hoodie

• Coat

• ;Dresses

• Sleeveless dress

• Short-sleeve dress

• Long-sleeve dress

• Round dress

• Balloon-hem dress

• Robe

• ;Hats

• Brimmed Cap

• Knit cap

• Brimmed hat

Sharing
and can generate QR codes to share custom designs. To unlock the feature in, the player must first befriend Sable who will bring in a new sewing machine that will allow them to create and read QR codes. In, the machine is available in the upstairs of Nook's Homes after completing the lesson "Even More Designs" in exchange for 5 Play Coins. QR codes are stored as images on the SD card inserted into the Nintendo 3DS. Normal designs use one QR code, but pro designs are comprised of four separate codes. Once the codes have been scanned, a slot must be selected for the design to be saved to.

is backwards compatible with QR codes created for these previous titles (excluding the Standee design type) via the NookLink service of the Nintendo Switch Online app for iOS and Android. The app can scan the QR codes, saving up to one design at a time and overwriting any previously scanned design. The player must then select the Download function of the Custom Designs NookPhone app to import the design from the app into the game itself. Despite utilising a new and different format for pro designs, imported designs retain the format used in the previous titles.

Designs that are created in can be shared after befriending Sable once again. In this game, shared designs do not use QR codes. Instead they are uploaded to Nintendo's servers and can be shared with other players by having them input an alphanumeric code. A Nintendo Switch Online subscription is required for this service.

In all games, imported designs cannot be modified. The metadata for each design contains the author's name, their town name, and a hidden identifier. Should this metadata somehow match that of another player, the game will treat the design as if it is their own and allow them to modify it.

e-Reader designs
These designs are available as part of the Animal Crossing-e series. Scanning a design card will show the corresponding design on the Game Boy Advance alongside Sable's comment. If the game is linked to the e-reader, the design will be added to the game.

Wendell's designs

 * Footprints
 * Overhead view A
 * Overhead view B
 * Overhead view C
 * Overhead view D
 * Puddle
 * Checkpoint 1
 * Checkpoint 2
 * North/South Road
 * East/West Road
 * South/East Curve
 * South/West Curve
 * North/West Curve
 * North/East Curve
 * Intersection
 * Crosswalk
 * Stones
 * Fossil Dummy
 * Storm Drain
 * No Entry Sign
 * Right Turn Sign
 * Left Turn Sign
 * Exclamation Sign
 * No U-Turn Sign
 * House This Way
 * Town Hall This Way
 * Museum This Way
 * Speed Boost
 * Brick Box
 * ? Box
 * Down Stairs

Nintendo's designs
18 designs are provided in the official Player's Guide. The designs must be manually recreated with the in-game design maker.

Wendell's designs
These designs can only be obtained by Wendell, and feeding him the corresponding food will result in him giving the player one of these designs.

Sable's designs
After befriending Sable, she will give the player several different categories of textures that can be used when customizing furniture. These categories of patterns can be accessed from a workbench.

• None

• Polka-dot print

• Striped

• Checkered 1

• Checkered 2

• Traditional 1

• Traditional 2

• Retro

• Natural

• Playful

• Cool