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






2. A phenomenon of memory in which items presented at the beginning and end of a list are more likely to be recalled than items in the middle of a list.






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






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






5. A process of repeating a set of operation until a specific result is achieved.






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






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






8. 1) Physiological 2) Safety 3) Love 4) Self-Esteem 5) Self-Actualization


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






10. A tendency to interpret ambiguous images as simple and a complete unit - versus complex and incomplete. (Gestalt principle of perception).






11. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






13. Tendency to form an overall positive impression of a person on the basis of one positive characteristic






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






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






16. An attribute of an object that allows people to intuitively know how to use it






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






18. The designs that help people perform optimally are often not the same as the designs that people find most desirable.






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






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






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


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






23. A ratio within the elements of a form - such as height to width - approximating 0.618.






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






25. The process of organizing information into related groupings in order to manage complexity and reinforce relationships in the information.






26. A method of limiting the actions that can be performed on a system.






27. 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.






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






29. A tendency to prefer environments with unobstructed views (prospects) and areas of concealment and retreat (refuges).






30. The relative ease with which a destination - idea - or concept may be reached.






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






32. 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.






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






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






35. A technique for bringing attention to an area of text or image.






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






37. 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.






38. A technique used to modify behavior by reinforcing desired behaviors - and ignoring or punishing undesired behaviors.






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






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






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






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






43. The usability of a system is improved when similar parts are expressed in similar ways.






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






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






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






47. A tendency to assume that a system that works at one scale will also work at a smaller or larger scale. (2 kinds: Load assumptions and Interaction assumptions)






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






49. A property in which a form is made up of parts similar to the whole or to one another.






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