A Day in the Life of a Happy Home Paradise Designer

Hello, I am a designer for Happy Home Paradise. I’ve been working for 3 weeks now, and it’s been like a roller coaster that only goes up.

My workday as a designer for the Happy Home Paradise usually goes something like this: I fly to the holiday island where I inform my boss Lottie that I’m ready to work. After I’ve changed into work clothes – we have a specific uniform so that the customers identify us – I walk around the beach, trying to find a customer whose dream holiday home I’m interested in designing. There are many customers so I’m sure there is something for every designer out there since all the customers have different hopes and ideas for their holiday homes.

Sometimes I like to design something with themes I would want if I were to have a holiday home – such as a “Wee Library in the Fall Woods” or “Tabletop-Game Grounds”, but sometimes it’s also fun to design something that would probably never even cross my mind like “Restroom Refuge” or “Dusty Desert Dwelling”.
Sometimes the theme is secondary, since usually when I see a familiar face among the customers enjoying the island life – whether it’s someone who used to live at the same island as I do but has moved away or someone I would like to have as a neighbour but haven’t had met them before – I want to design their home no matter what.
It’s such a nice feeling to get the chance to design a holiday home for a former neighbour – even if they don’t remember me or the times we had together. But now we can make new memories. And I can make sure they get a nice little place to relax!

It sure does make my job easier that I don’t have to go around asking the customers about what they want for their homes, since I have this weird telepathy skill that makes it so I can read customer’s mind about what kinds of themes they want. I have no idea how it works; I just work here!

After deciding which client is the lucky one, who gets an island home designed by yours truly, we sit down to discuss the details – me, the client and my boss Lottie. I decide the location for the home, there are plenty of areas and islands to choose from and I usually try to find a place that suits the theme, and each theme does have a recommended season, winter, summer and so on. I also decide whether the home has one or two floors.

Today our lucky one was Eugene, who was hoping for “A Place to Tell My Story”. I got an understanding of what he wanted just by the name of the theme and from the items he requested – TV camera, Studio Spotlight and Cool low table. Now I didn’t really know much about Eugene, but he seemed like a cool chill dude, so I decided to make his holiday home into cool and chill as well.

And off we go to the island where the home is. I usually start designing the house and the yard itself since each home has those.

I usually just go with the flow, don’t plan too much and just see what happens and then make changes if needed. I wanted to give Eugene a place to work but also a little nook where he can crash, have a milkshake to relax too. And I think it turned out quite nice.

And we got another happy customer! At least he seemed satisfied.

It turned out that Eugene’s house was the 50^th house I’ve designed, as Lottie kindly informed me after I got back. So, naturally, we decided to have a little celebration with the team – me and my lovely co-workers, Niko, Wardell and our boss Lottie. It’s so nice to have supportive co-workers and a working environment where we celebrate the milestones we have crossed together. That is such an important part of work as well. We headed out to the cafe (designed by yours truly, of course) and had a little party. So much fun!

There you have it, a regular day for me as a designer. The job has been much more fun than I even expected and as I’ve just gained a new title, a promotion you could say, as a Superstar Designer, I expect even more chances to grow as a designer. I’ll even get the chance to practice what I’ve learned during these three weeks at my own island, by re-designing the homes of my neighbours so that should be interesting and fun as well.

Game: Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise DLC (2021)
Publisher: Nintendo
Screenshots of the game: Taken by the author

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