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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






14. A Gestalt principle of organization holding that aspects of perceptual field that move or function in a similar manner will be perceived as a unit






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






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






17. 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?)






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






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






20. The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging - despite changes in sensory input. (such as perspective - lighting - color or size)






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






22. 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.






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






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






25. A method of creating imagery - emotions - and understanding of events through an interaction between a storyteller and an audience.






26. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






38. 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.






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






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






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






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






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


44. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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






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






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






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