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






2. The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging - despite changes in sensory input. (such as perspective - lighting - color or size)






3. The use of simplified and incomplete models of a design to explore ideas - elaborate requirements - refine specifications - and test functionality.






4. The debgree to which prose can be understood - based on the complexity of words and sentences.






5. A phenomenon of memory in which noticeably different things are more likely to be recalled that common things. (AKA Isolation/Novelty Effect)






6. Pictures are remembered better than words.






7. A tendency to prefer faces in which the eyes - nose - lips and other features are close to the average of a population.






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






9. 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?)






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






11. The time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of alternatives increases.


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






13. A method of creating imagery - emotions - and understanding of events through an interaction between a storyteller and an audience.






14. A phenomenon of visual processing in which certain line orientations are more quickly and easily processed and discriminated than other line orientations.






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


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






17. A preference for a particular ratio of waist size to hip size in men and women. Men prefer 0.7 in women. Women prefer 0.9 in men.






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






19. It is often preferable to settle for a satisfactory solution - rather than pursue an optimal solution.






20. The tendency to see attractive people as more intelligent - competent - moral and sociable than unattractive people.






21. An original model on which something is patterned






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






23. 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.)






24. The use of more elements than necessary to maintain the performance of a system in the event of failure of one or more of the elements.






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






26. Teh act of copying properties of familiar objects - organisms - or environments in order to realize specifice benefits afforded by those properties.






27. A method of managing system complexity that involves dividing large systems into multiple - smaller self- contained systems.






28. A state of mental focus so intense that awareness of the 'real' world is lost - generally resulting in a feeling of joy and satisfaction.






29. A sequence of numbers in which each number is the sum of the preceding two.






30. A phenomenon of memory in which information that is analyzed deeply is better recalled than information that is analyzed superficially.






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






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






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


34. The level of control provided by a system should be related to the proficiency and experience levels of the people using the system.






35. The tendency for people to perform better or worse based on the expectations of another.






36. A point of physical or attentional entry into a design. (Minimal Barriers - Points of Prospect - Progressive Lures)






37. The usability of a system is improved when its status and methods of use are clearly visible.






38. The quality of system output is dependent on the quality of system input.






39. 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.






40. A tendency to see objects and patterns as 3D when certain visual cues are present.






41. Beauty in design results from purity of function. Interpreted in 2 ways: A description of beauty or a prescription for beauty.






42. A method of reorganizing information to make the information simpler - more meaningful and easier to remember. (ie. First Letter - Keyword - Rhyme - Feature Name)






43. A Gestalt principle of organization holding that aspects of perceptual field that move or function in a similar manner will be perceived as a unit






44. A tendency to see people and things iwth baby- faced features as more naive - helpless - and honest than those with mature features.






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






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






47. The visual clarity of text - generally based on the size - typeface - contrast - text block - and spacing of the characters used.






48. A technique of combining many units of information into a limited number of units or chunks - so that the information is easier to process and remember.






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






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