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






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






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


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






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






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






7. 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.






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






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






10. 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?)






11. 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.






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






13. An original model on which something is patterned






14. 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.






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






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






17. 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






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






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


21. 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.






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






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






24. 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)






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






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






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






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






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






30. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






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






37. A technique that influences decision making and judgement by manipulating the way information is presented.






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






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






40. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






50. The process of organizing information into related groupings in order to manage complexity and reinforce relationships in the information.