Test your basic knowledge |

Design Principles

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. An attribute of an object that allows people to intuitively know how to use it






2. The use of pictorial images to improve the recognition and recall of signs and controls.






3. The greater the effort to accomplish a task - the less likely the task will be accomplished successfully.






4. A technique used to teach a desired behavior by reinforcing increasingly accurate approximations of the behavior.






5. A technique of composition in which a medium is divided into thirds - creating aesthetic positions for the primary elements of a design.






6. Hierarchical organization is the simplest structure for visualizing and understanding complexity.






7. Repeated exposure to stimuli for which people have neutral feelings will increase the likeability of the stimuli.






8. A method of illustrating relationships and patterns in system behaviors by representing two or more system variables in a controlled way.






9. The ratio of face to body in an image that influences the way the person in the image is perceived. (High = intelligent / Low = physical)






10. A relationship between variables in a system where the consequences of an event are fed back in order to modify the event in the future.






11. The tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied






12. A space that has territorial markers - opportunities for surveillance - and clear indications of activity and ownership.






13. A phenomenon in which mental processing is made slower and less accurate by competing mental processes.






14. Pictures are remembered better than words.






15. A Gestalt law of organization; elements arrange in a straight line or a smooth curve are perceived as a group - and are interpreted as being more related than elements not on the line or curve.






16. The deliberate use of a weak element that will fail in order to protect other elements in the system from damage.






17. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






18. There are five ways to organize information: Category - time - location - alphabet - and continuum.






19. A strategy for managing information complexity in which only necessary or requested information is displayed at any given time.






20. Elements that are similar are perceived to be more related than elements that are dissimilar.






21. An action or ommission of action yielding an unintended result.






22. A property of visual equivalence among elements in a form.






23. A term used to describe a set of data - that when plotted - forms a symmetrical - bell- shaped curve.






24. A process in which similar characteristics evolve independently in multiple systems.






25. The act of measuring certain sensitive variable in a system can alter them - and confound the accuracy of the measurement.






26. A phenomenon in which perception and behavior changes as a result of personal expectations or the expectations of others. (Halo effect - Hawthorne effect - Pygmalion effect - Placebo effect - Rosenthal effect - Demand characteristics.)






27. A method of presentation in which information is presented in descending order of importance. (Critical information presented first).






28. Using more elements than is necessary to offset the effects of unknown variables which may cause a system failure.






29. Memory for recognizing things is better than memory for recalling things.






30. Elements that are close together are percieved to be more related than elements that are farther apart.






31. Elements perceived as either figures (objects of focus) or ground (the rest of the perceptual field)






32. An activity will be pursued only if its benefits are equal to or greater than the costs. (ie. How much reading is too much to get the point of a message?)






33. Teachers treat students differently based on their expectations of how students will perform.






34. 1) Functionality 2) Reliability 3) Usability 4) Proficiency 5) Creativity. In order for design to be successful - it must meet ppl's basic need before it can attempt to satisfy higher- level needs.






35. A tendency to interpret shaded or dark areas of an object as shadows resulting from a light source above the object.






36. The process of using spatial and environmental information to navigate to a destination.






37. There are three ways to organize materials to support a load or to contain and protect something: Mass structures - frame structures - and shell structures.






38. People understand and interact with systems and environments based on mental representations developed from experience.






39. A technique that influences decision making and judgement by manipulating the way information is presented.






40. The distressing state of thought caused by recognizing an inconsistency between behavior/thought and value/belief.






41. People tend to prefer savanna- like environments to other types of environments. Open areas - scattered trees - water - and uniform grassiness rather than other natural environments such as desert - jungle - and complex mtns.






42. When participants realise the aim of the study and may change their behaviour to help or disrupt the study.






43. The time required to move to a target is a function of the target size and distance to the target.


44. A diagram that describes the general pattern followed by the eyes when looking at evenly distributed - homogeneous information.






45. A technique used to asociate a stimulus with an unconscious physical or emotional response.






46. Given a choice between functionally equivalent designs - the simplest design should be selected.


47. All products progress sequentially through four stages of existence: introduction - growth - maturity - and decline.






48. Patients experience treatment effects based on their belief that a treatment will work.






49. An original model on which something is patterned






50. The ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in a display. The highest possible signal- to- noise ratio is desirable in design.