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 action or ommission of action yielding an unintended result.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






20. 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.






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






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






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






24. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






45. 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.






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






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






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






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


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