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






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






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






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






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






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






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






8. 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.)






9. A tendency to interpret ambiguous images as simple and a complete unit - versus complex and incomplete. (Gestalt principle of perception).






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






25. 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






26. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






33. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






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






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


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






38. A technique of composition in which a medium is divided into thirds - creating aesthetic positions for the primary elements of a design.






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






40. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






43. The act of measuring certain sensitive variable in a system can alter them - and confound the accuracy of the measurement.






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






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






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






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






48. 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.






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






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