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. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






11. A method of illustrating relationships and patterns in system behaviors by representing two or more system variables in a controlled way.






12. 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.






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






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






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






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






17. A technique for preventing unintended actions by requiring verification of the actions before they are performed.






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






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






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






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






22. 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.






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






24. 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.






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






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






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






28. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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






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






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






34. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






50. 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.