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






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






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






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






6. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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.






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






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






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






20. There are three ways to organize materials to support a load or to contain and protect something: Mass structures - frame structures - and shell structures.






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






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






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






24. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






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


35. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






41. 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.






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






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






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






45. The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging - despite changes in sensory input. (such as perspective - lighting - color or size)






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






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






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






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






50. 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.