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






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






3. 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.






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






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






6. The ratio of face to body in an image that influences the way the person in the image is perceived. (High = intelligent / Low = physical)






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


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






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






10. 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.






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






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






13. 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.)






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






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






16. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






30. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






37. Adjusting parts of a device in relation to each other to create a sense of unity and cohesion.






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






39. A process of repeating a set of operation until a specific result is achieved.






40. An action or ommission of action yielding an unintended result.






41. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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


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






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






47. 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?)






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






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






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