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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






14. The process of organizing information into related groupings in order to manage complexity and reinforce relationships in the information.






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






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






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






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






19. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






23. 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?)






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






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






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






27. 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.






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






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


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






31. 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.






32. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






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