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Examples:

"Let's design our page correctly"

Please choose the proper design

The word

"Design"

by it self in a menu option, what is the best way to put it?

Banner Design

Landing Page Design

What would be the proper translation for Brazilian Portuguese?

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This is a topic that has often bugged me. In technical fields, such as engineering or computer science, to design is to devise a product, service, or piece of knowledge to be produced or implemented. The best words in Portuguese to describe this action would be projetar or planejar (and their cognates):

Projeto de Pôster

Projeto de Página Inicial

A software designer, for instance, would be called engenheiro(a) de software in Portuguese.

That being said, in Portuguese, the word design is often used to describe art pieces as products or services already built, where planning is no longer implied. In those cases, I think estilo is better suited to convey the desired meaning:

"Vamos estilizar nossa página corretamente"

Por favor, escolha o estilo apropriado

For example, the occupation known as fashion designer is usually translated as estilista [de moda].

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  • Yeah, this is a hard one. In Portugal we can use linhas in some contexts (carro com linhas atraentes), but we usually stick to design. Estilo, on the other hand, may sugest 'tipo' rather than 'design'.
    – Jacinto
    Jan 28, 2017 at 19:02
  • @Jacinto In general contexts, for sure, but artists are used to estilo meaning design instead of tipo. Web designers code folhas de estilo to customize their web pages, writers aplicam estilos to format pieces of their documents, graphic designers use estilos de camadas to create visual effects for their fonts. I know nothing about his target audience, though, it's down to him to make the decision.
    – Ramon Melo
    Jan 29, 2017 at 1:00
  • @Jacinto I glanced over his profile and it looks like what he's translating is some kind of marketing software, which could be aimed at artists, at coders, or none of the above (managers, salespeople, etc). A bit tricky, but I think one of those two - or even just keeping design as it is, it doesn't really sound bad - should deliver the message.
    – Ramon Melo
    Jan 29, 2017 at 1:05
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Design as a noun is a loan word in br pt (ie, it's the same, "design"). The verb uses the non-linear form: desenhar.

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  • Same thing here in Portugal when it comes to the noun. I'm not sure we use desenhar as an equivalent to the verb design though; but I wouldn't be the person to ask.
    – Jacinto
    Jan 28, 2017 at 18:55
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I'm a software architect/engineer, and when I translate "design", sometimes it is a "projeto" (project), and in other situations it is just a "desenho" ou "desenhar" (something like: to draw, to scribble, to sketch).

When it refers to a big issue, which includes concepts, process, to make or construct something, and so on, it is a "projeto", but when I need to refer for our minds, conception,... like as when we leave our minds flow, a brain storming, putting them in a paper, I translate it as a "desenho". Examples:

  • Desenhei um novo algorítimo muito mais eficiente que o atual. ( O algorítimo não precisa ter sido construído, foi apenas concebido, "glimpsed", "sketchy", "outlined")
  • Esta camada do sistema foi desenhada sob aspectos e conceitos diferentes dos que conhecemos. (Novamente aqui tem o conceito de concepção, embora possa ter sido construído neste caso, estamos nos referindo aos conceitos por trás da camada como ela foi desenhada, concebida, abordada - "it's how about it was approached")

But, when it has the meaning of style, aesthetic, look... So, in this case, in Brazil at least, the "design" takes place (foreignness), although there are words like "aparência", "estilo", "estética", and so on, "design" seems to sound or have more appeal for professionals that deals with the "aparência das coisas".

As the last example: When in portuguese someone says something like "Esse produto tem um design revolucionário", although there can be the meanings of "architecture", "concepts", "usability", "look/aesthetics", usually they are heard by Brazilians that the product has a revolutionary "look", "shape", "appearance", sometimes "feel (look&feel)", nothing or very little about the others meanings that the word design has in English.

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  • Interessante, que na tua explicação de "desenhei" dizes "O algorítmo [...] foi apenas concebido"; conceber, e não desenhar, seria precisamente a palavra que eu provavelmente usaria nesse caso.
    – Jacinto
    Feb 3, 2017 at 19:13
  • Sim pode ser. Mas no meu caso ele teria sido literalmente desenhado. Foi concebido, por meio de desenhos, esboços, diagramas, rascunhos, etc.
    – Luciano
    Feb 4, 2017 at 11:52

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