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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






10. 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.






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






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






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






14. 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.






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






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






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






18. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






25. When participants realise the aim of the study and may change their behaviour to help or disrupt the study.






26. 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.






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






28. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






46. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






47. 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?)






48. 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.






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


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