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






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






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






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






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






6. 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)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






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






20. Teachers treat students differently based on their expectations of how students will perform.






21. 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.






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


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






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






26. 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.)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






36. The designs that help people perform optimally are often not the same as the designs that people find most desirable.






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






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






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






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






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






42. 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.






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






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






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






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


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


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






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






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