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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






19. 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






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






21. 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.






22. 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)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






31. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






33. 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.






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






35. A method of limiting the actions that can be performed on a system.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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