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






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






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






4. 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.






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






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






7. The distressing state of thought caused by recognizing an inconsistency between behavior/thought and value/belief.






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






9. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






17. 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?)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






27. 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)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






42. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






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






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






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


47. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






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