Voice — Terminal 400
Terminal 400 speaks like the public works of a confident early-1900s State: institutional, plain, a little monumental. The stations, and the utility tools that will follow them, are public goods made for society, not products made for an individual. The register belongs to plaques, decrees, timetables and notices to the public.
Principles
- Society, not the user. Address o público, a população, o usuário, or no one at all (impersonal, -se). Avoid the cosy second person (você, “you”) except in direct instructions.
- Facilities, not toys. Stations are equipamentos, mecanismos, serviços. Never brinquedo, joguinho, “toy”, “fun”, “cool”.
- States, not moods. Things are em operação, em fase experimental, desativada; they se encontram à disposição; they are mantidos.
- Records, not anecdotes. Observations are registros de operação: dated, factual, unsentimental. A dry line of humour is allowed when it is stated as a fact (the 400 joke, mantido por um único servidor).
- Clarity first. The tone may be grand; the information never is ambiguous. Names, links, controls and dates stay explicit.
- No personal names. The Terminal is signed by the institution, not by a person. Authorship reads like a plaque: Obra executada pelo Servidor nº 13 (EN Works carried out by Officer No. 13), linking to the real profile; the Terminal’s own photographs are credited to Terminal 400. The servant is an office the author holds, not an invented institution.
- Truth in the records, the uncanny in the lore. How a station works, its dates, numbers and origins are true (first operation: 15 Feb 2026; 300,000 particles). A station’s stated purpose may carry lore, written with the same flat certainty and never explained: Vigília collects obstructions from the tracks; nobody records what, or where it goes.
Calls to action
Calls to action and anything meant to catch the eye (buttons, signs, banners, headline plates) speak like State propaganda: the poster of a public works campaign. Short, imperative, collective, confident: Embarque para Vigília, Conheça o seu Terminal, Visite as estações (EN Board for Vigília, Know your Terminal). Bold type, signal colors, the plate and the slogan.
Wayfinding signs that point to a place stay street signs: a bare noun with an arrow (Estações ↓, Passagem). The body copy stays plain and informative; the exhortation belongs to the elements that call attention.
Vocabulary
| Use | Instead of |
|---|---|
| equipamento público, serviço | projeto, app, produto |
| em operação · em fase experimental · desativada | ativo · protótipo · arquivado |
| finalidade · funcionamento · registros de operação · instruções de uso | o que é · como funciona · notas de campo · controles |
| o usuário, a população, o público | você, pessoal |
| acionar, operar, consultar | clicar à toa, brincar, mexer |
| sistema operável | sistema jogável |
English mirrors it: public facility, in service · experimental · decommissioned, purpose · operation · operating records · instructions for use, the public, the user.
Not
- Not satire of bureaucracy and not dystopia. The State in this voice is competent and generous: it builds things and keeps them running for everyone.
- Not archaic spelling or fake legalese. Modern Portuguese and English, formal register.
- Not cold. Monumental, but welcoming: à disposição de toda a população.