Animal Crossing Aesthetic Cores

[Fruitcup]

I'm the kind of animal crossing player that really likes to make my town/island aesthetically pleasing, basically I love decorating/landscaping.
It's been interesting and really fun to see how different aesthetic "cores" have developed in our animal crossing "culture (lol)" like cottage, kid, fairy, European, Japanese, city, etc.

Personally I didn't consider any core when designing my island. The inspiration for the look of my island revolved around the blue iron stairs & bridge and pears.
My favorite islands to visit are ones that aren't forests, any kind of town/city and I'm in, I guess I really like pavement lol

What do you guys think about these cores and do you have a favorite ac aesthetic?

 

[meggiewes]

I really like cottagecore because I am a huge fan of the mori girl style. I also really like the super cute "pink and white town aesthetic" which has developed into fairycore (I think?). It is super cute and I love looking at it.

Spoiler: rant about the something-core label

I dislike the word "something-core" because it reminds me of two things: gatekeeping "hardcore" gamers who like to say that women can't play video games (and if something isn't brutally hard then it isn't worth playing) and non-gamer people trying to look hip because video games are apparently cool now even though those are the type of people who bullied people for playing video games in the first place. Yes, that is a huge generalization, but how is how it really looks to somebody who has been playing and enjoying games for a long time.

Alright. I didn't want to ruin anybody's fun today in what is supposed to be a lighthearted aesthetic title, but I really feel like I need to say my rant so I can finally let it go, so I just stuck it behind a spoiler. Even though it is technically on topic because that is how I truly feel about the whatever-cores. I don't mind the styles. I just hate that label and I am sure it is just a generational thing.

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

I can't really say that I like any particular island theme(s). For me, it's all about execution, and I also like a balance between functionality (how easy it is to traverse the island) and appearance.

Spoiler: Mini rant about "-core"

I'm not a fan of the "-core" labelling either. To me, calling an island "X-themed" or "Y style" already suffices, and "-core" just sounds like a term that "influencers" use to sound quirky, get more likes on social media, and best the aLgOriThMs.

To be clear, I don't have anything against anyone who uses the labelling. I think it's a social media thing, all of which I have pretty much grown weary of.

 

[Mick]

I didn't take my inspiration from any of the 'aesthetics', instead just going for a woodsy theme with various areas that I try to fit into the general setting. I don't think I'd be able to decorate an entire island in a single style without a lot of repetition and with some originality.

I do have to agree that the whole -core label is kind of dumb. Cottagecore is cottage themed, kiddiecore is kiddie themed. Why did we need a new term for this? As you can see we already had one and it is "themed" lol

It's actually become a running joke between me and an AC friend. Where a few little tents are is tentcore. Undecorated areas become emptycore. The little square of path that doesn't have furniture on it? Parking lot core.

I guess it just doesn't fit the culture that we have here.

 

[Your Local Wild Child]

While I am going for a certain theming, I would not consider myself to have a “-core” aesthetic. People just add core to their theming for some reason (I know my theming has been called “overgrowncore” even though feral is just as descriptive and not a mouthful).

 

[Bilaz]

Yeah the core thing is really confusing me in new leaf everyone just said ‘check out my fairy forest town’
The themes are cute though

It's actually become a running joke between me and an AC friend. Where a little tent are is tentcore. Undecorated areas become emptycore. The little square of path that doesn't have furniture on it? Parking lot core.

I guess it just doesn't fit the culture that we have here.

This is hilarious, my island is emptycore

 

[tajikey]

I like to consider mine Tajikey-core. Because at the core of my island is Tajikey. That is all.

 

[ForbiddenSecrets]

I think they are basically the same themes people have always used but now we have the word core slapped on it.

To me designing super strict on one theme is too restrictive but for other people I think it helps their creativity by giving them a leaping point for all of their designs which is cool. I kinda went small suburb with more wild hill alrea vibe for my town.

 

[Splinter]

I like my island to look like it's an animal crossing island, so I'm keeping it simple with animalcrossingcore.
And I prefer to visit islands that are unaesthetically displeasing. The word "core" just means clutter I think, from what I've seen.

 

[RedPanda]

I am really impressed with people who have successfully designed islands with good flow and interesting changes in elevation. That to me is more important than which 'core' they use. I've seen some famous cottagecore islands that make me feel claustrophobic because of all the clutter.

That said, I do appreciate the rustic style of cottage and fairy themed islands. I have also really enjoyed pirate-themed islands and Halloween-themed islands. I guess I should say Halloweencore or spookycore, haha. Well I guess there is goblincore? The whole core thing is a bit silly to me. That said, I recently dicovered the whole "mori girl" thing and I'm in love with that look, especially since a lot of my clothing already is that style. I just didn't know it had a name.

 

[Holla]

I agree with in others in the fact that the -core naming is rather unnecessary. I don't hate it per se but I prefer not using it. Theme and style are more obvious terms and to the point of what they mean in my opinion.

For example:
Cottagecore is "cottage styled"
Fairycore is "fairy themed"
etc.

My island is Sailor Moon themed. Sailor Moon-core would sound super weird imo. Within my main theme I have smaller areas that go with certain characters like a sports theme, Japanese theme, garden theme, fair theme and school theme.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

I feel like I wanna make an island that has small parts of every major "core" that gets named, and really accentuate those themes in each small part. And obviously it'll be called corecore.

 

[mocha.]

I really like cottage/fairytale styled islands! I believe the cottagecore term originated on Tumblr? I remember seeing cottagecore themed photos on there and can’t remember the term being used to describe islands on NL (correct me if I’m wrong)

ive always liked more natural looking islands though

 

[Sharksheep]

I just have a bit of everything. So I guess normal island since I just put out what I like and have areas I want.

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

I don't really subscribe to these core aesthetics tbh. I just design my island in whichever way I feel like. It doesn't have any theme per se. I just create an island that encompasses me and my style

 

[Moonlight.]

-core is just a way of describing aesthetics, especially popular on tumblr (kidcore, animecore, cottagecore, webcore, oddcore, etc.) and makes for a straightforward tagging system on sites like it. not entirely sure why people are acting like it's something new or negative. :v

that being said, my island doesn't really follow any set of -core style, just whatever looks simple and nice is fine by me

 

[EmmaFrost]

I'm too old to refer to anything as -core. It feels like a Tumblr trend for zoomers. My island doesn't follow a set theme or aesthetic, but I really enjoy seeing islands that do follow a cohesive theme. I watch lots of island tours on Youtube and a lot of them are "fairycore" or "cottagecore" or whatever and they are beautiful

 

[Imbri]

I've never really labeled my towns/island in any real fashion, other than to say that I prefer to keep things more natural and rural. I don't use a lot of paths (although I've seen some lovely ones), because it isn't to my taste. I try to create "paths" by planting trees and placing items to direct the flow.

I like to visit decorated islands, but as others have said, some of the more celebrated ones are too cluttered and confusing to me. They may make nice pictures for sharing online, but for actually playing, not so much. Still, everyone has their own thoughts on how to play their island, and it may be that some simply are looking to create a showpiece. If it makes them happy, that's all that matters.

 

[Rika092]

hmmm I guess I'm aiming for primarily cottage-core aesthetics overall? But it's gonna be a mix and match because I will also have a section of my island with more of asian themed decors. So in the end, i just throw together what i like really. But yeah, agree that the "core" label is overused and not a necessary lingo to describe a particular theme. I think everyone just use it because it's just more trendy/hippy to say your town is "fairy core" than "fairy themed"

 

[AssassinVicz]

My Island theme is based around a Pokemon/pokemon movie (Celebi). So I doubt adding core to the end of that would be appealing. Idk?

I see a lot of cottage/fairy theme islands, which look really nice. I’ve taken some inspiration from them aswell.
However I do see a lot of islands that have stuff in every single little spot or it’s terraformed to the extreme. Which looks like a pain to walk around or play in...