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






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






4. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






11. 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?)






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






13. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






19. The ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in a display. The highest possible signal- to- noise ratio is desirable in design.






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






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






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






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






24. 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.






25. 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)






26. 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.






27. As the flexiblity of a system increases - its usability decreases.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






45. 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.






46. 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.






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


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






49. 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.






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