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 asociate a stimulus with an unconscious physical or emotional response.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






15. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






24. The relative ease with which a destination - idea - or concept may be reached.






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






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






27. 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.






28. The usability of a system is improved when similar parts are expressed in similar ways.






29. 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.






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






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


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






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






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






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






36. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






42. 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.






43. 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.






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






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






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






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


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






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






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