Since its release on March 20, the adorable and relaxing Animal Crossing: New Horizons has quickly become a coronavirus quarantine staple. As the latest installment in the Animal Crossing franchise, Animal Crossing: New Horizons brings players to an abandoned island to settle on the land and build a new community of endearing and often familiar characters. Players fish, catch, and craft their way to home and community upgrades in real-time and can visit friends’ islands with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
One of the most appealing aspects of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the ability for players to express themselves and customize their homes and clothing, making the island completely their own. However, players can also benefit from the creativity of the rest of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons community with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription and the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Custom Design Portal. This guide will help players access, upload designs too, and download designs from the Custom Design Portal.
Accessing the Custom Design Portal in Animal Crossing New Horizons
To access the Custom Design Portal, players must first unlock the Able Sisters Tailor Shop. Unlocking the Able Sisters Tailor Shop is fairly simple. First, players should build Nook’s Cranny and speak to Mable there. After initially entering Nook’s Cranny, Mable should start to appear in front of Resident Services selling clothing. Players should purchase a large amount of clothing from her. When they visit the shop again, Mable will give them a Tailor Shop Kit. Players can then choose where to build their Tailor Shop. It will take about two days in real-time for the shop to open for business.
Inside the completed Tailor Shop, players can find the Custom Design Portal in the upper right of the store, located beside the fitting rooms. Provided they have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, they can then enter the portal.
Posting Designs to the Custom Design Portal in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Inside the Custom Design Portal, players can choose Post to upload their designs and creations for other members of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons community. First-time uploaders will receive their unique Creator ID, which other players can use to access that player’s custom design catalog.
Players can then upload the designs they want to share. These can either come from normal custom designs or from Custom Design Pro. This design will receive its own ID, which can help players share the design more efficiently with friends. The Design ID can immediately be shared via social media.
Players may also select custom designs to delete from their posted catalog under their Creator ID. Deleted designs will no longer be shared with friends.
Saving Custom Designs in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Players may want to find designs in the Custom Design Portal to download and add to their games. To do this, they must insert a Creator or Design ID. Using a Creator ID will give players access to that creator’s full catalog of custom designs, and using a Design ID will take a player to a specific design. Players may select the design they want and save it to their Custom Design catalog. Saved custom designs may not be edited.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons also allows players to download custom designs from past games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf. To access this feature, players should launch the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app and choose NookLink. The player should select Custom Designs and scan their desired design’s QR code using their phone camera. Then, using the in-game NookPhone, players should click the + button to download their selected design.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available on the Nintendo Switch.
