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






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






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






4. Adjusting parts of a device in relation to each other to create a sense of unity and cohesion.






5. A technique used to modify behavior by reinforcing desired behaviors - and ignoring or punishing undesired behaviors.






6. 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.






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






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. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






21. 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.






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






23. 1) Physiological 2) Safety 3) Love 4) Self-Esteem 5) Self-Actualization


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


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






26. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






37. 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.






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






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






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






41. An original model on which something is patterned






42. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






50. A technique that influences decision making and judgement by manipulating the way information is presented.