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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






16. 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)






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






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






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


20. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






22. 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.






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






24. 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.






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






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






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






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






29. Memory for recognizing things is better than memory for recalling things.






30. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






37. 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.






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






39. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






49. 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.






50. 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.)