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 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.






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


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


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






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






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






7. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






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






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






30. A relationship between controls and their movements or effects. When th effect corresponds to the expectation - the mapping is considered to be good or natural.






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






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. 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.






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






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






36. 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






37. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






44. 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.)






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






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


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






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






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






50. 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.