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






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






4. 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.






5. 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.)






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






7. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






15. 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?)






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






17. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






32. 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)






33. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






43. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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