I was thinking one band for most of it around the globe but to taper wider at the best climates for farming, leisure, surfing, etc., with other cool islands that would spell out my name or make a cool design to almost prove the existence of God /you by having the all the islands shaped like cats.
In this scenario you are a designer (watch maker) God who then turns into a person that has to live in the world they design
I like band idea, but I’d make it a big band of Voronoy pattern shaped islands, with just enough water in between for civilisations to ensure communication, but make invading each other a pain in the ass. Would probably also make some water regions shallow to act like some sort of water speed bump and limit seafaring capacity and force humans to eventually be building big ass bridges.
Would probably also make some outlier islands with difficult inhospitable terrain or climate to act as nature’s reserves.