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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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


25. 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






26. 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.






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






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






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


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






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






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






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


34. An original model on which something is patterned






35. The tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied






36. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






42. 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.






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






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






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






46. 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.






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






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






49. 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?)






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