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






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






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






4. As the flexiblity of a system increases - its usability decreases.






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






6. Designs should help people avoid errors and minimize the negative consequences of errors when they do occur.






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






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


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






10. Successful products typically follow four stages of creation: requirements - design - development - and testing.






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






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






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






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






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






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






17. 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)






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






19. 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.






20. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






28. Elements that are connected by uniform visual properties - such as color - are perceived to be more related than elements that are not connected.






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






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


31. 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?)






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






33. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






36. Adjusting parts of a device in relation to each other to create a sense of unity and cohesion.






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






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






39. An ability to detect threatening stimuli more efficiently than nonthreatening stimuli.






40. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






46. Tendency to perceive a set of individual elements as a single - recogniable pattern - rather than multiple - individual elements.






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






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






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






50. 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