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






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






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






4. 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






5. 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.






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






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






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






9. 1) Functionality 2) Reliability 3) Usability 4) Proficiency 5) Creativity. In order for design to be successful - it must meet ppl's basic need before it can attempt to satisfy higher- level needs.






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






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






27. 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.






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






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






30. A tendency to see people and things iwth baby- faced features as more naive - helpless - and honest than those with mature features.






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






32. 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.






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






34. A tendency to see objects and patterns as 3D when certain visual cues are present.






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


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. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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






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






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






43. A tendency to assume that a system that works at one scale will also work at a smaller or larger scale. (2 kinds: Load assumptions and Interaction assumptions)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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