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






3. 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.






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






5. Patients experience treatment effects based on their belief that a treatment will work.






6. Teh act of copying properties of familiar objects - organisms - or environments in order to realize specifice benefits afforded by those properties.






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






8. The greater the effort to accomplish a task - the less likely the task will be accomplished successfully.






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






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






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






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






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


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






15. 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.






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






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






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






19. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






29. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






43. A method of reorganizing information to make the information simpler - more meaningful and easier to remember. (ie. First Letter - Keyword - Rhyme - Feature Name)






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






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






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






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






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






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


50. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.