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






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






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






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






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






7. 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.






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






9. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






22. 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.






23. 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.






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






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






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






27. The quality of system output is dependent on the quality of system input.






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






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






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






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






32. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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