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






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






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






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






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






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






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






8. A space that has territorial markers - opportunities for surveillance - and clear indications of activity and ownership.






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


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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






18. 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.






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






20. 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.






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






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






23. 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.






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






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






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






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






28. Repeated exposure to stimuli for which people have neutral feelings will increase the likeability of the stimuli.






29. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






35. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






46. 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?)






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






48. 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.






49. 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.)






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