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. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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


5. 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






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


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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






17. A phenomenon in which perception and behavior changes as a result of personal expectations or the expectations of others. (Halo effect - Hawthorne effect - Pygmalion effect - Placebo effect - Rosenthal effect - Demand characteristics.)






18. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






24. 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.






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






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






27. 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.






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






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






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






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






32. A method of presentation in which information is presented in descending order of importance. (Critical information presented first).






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






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






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






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


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






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






39. 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.






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






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






42. The visual clarity of text - generally based on the size - typeface - contrast - text block - and spacing of the characters used.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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