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. 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






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






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






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






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






6. A technique used to asociate a stimulus with an unconscious physical or emotional response.






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






8. 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.






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






10. A relationship between controls and their movements or effects. When th effect corresponds to the expectation - the mapping is considered to be good or natural.






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






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






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






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






15. A process of repeating a set of operation until a specific result is achieved.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


29. 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.






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






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






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






33. 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.






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






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






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






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






38. 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.






39. 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.






40. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






41. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






49. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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