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 Gestalt principle of organization holding that aspects of perceptual field that move or function in a similar manner will be perceived as a unit






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






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






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






5. 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?)






6. 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)






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






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






9. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






17. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






23. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






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






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






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






28. 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.






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






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






31. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






39. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






47. 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.






48. 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.






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






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