General Knowledge & Current Affairs
Planetary Order — My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune). Helps recall planet sequence for space-themed design questions.
Rainbow Spectrum — VIBGYOR (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red). Essential for color theory, wavelength order, and design composition questions.
Mohs Hardness Scale — The Girls Can Flirt And Other Queer Things Can Do (Talc, Gypsum, Calcite, Fluorite, Apatite, Orthoclase, Quartz, Topaz, Corundum, Diamond). Useful for material science in design.
Creative & Lateral Thinking
SCAMPER Technique — Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other use, Eliminate, Reverse. Quick ideation checklist for generating design alternatives in timed scenarios.
Design Thinking Phases — EDICT (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Create, Test). Memorize this five-step process for structured problem-solving questions.
Drawing & Sketching
Facial Proportions Rule — Eyes halfway down head height; nose halfway between eyes and chin; mouth one-third below nose. Quick reference for portrait sketching accuracy.
1-2-3 Point Perspective — 1VP=railway tracks, 2VP=building corners, 3VP=bird's/worm's eye. Match vanishing points to viewpoint for correct perspective drawing setup.
Human Body Proportions — Average adult = 7.5 heads tall; arm span equals height; elbow at waist; fingertips mid-thigh. Fast figure-drawing proportions check.
Observation & Visualization
Pattern Recognition Trick — Check rotations first (90°, 180°, 270°), then reflections (vertical, horizontal, diagonal). Systematically eliminates wrong options in visual reasoning.
Missing Figure Logic — Count elements row-wise and column-wise simultaneously; look for arithmetic/geometric progressions. Works for 80% of matrix completion problems.
Odd-One-Out Priority — Check shape→size→color→orientation sequence. This hierarchy quickly identifies the different element in visual grouping questions.
Color Theory
Primary-Secondary Rule — RGB primaries; CMY secondaries (Red+Blue=Magenta, Red+Green=Yellow, Blue+Green=Cyan). Additive color mixing for design applications.
Warm vs Cool — ROYGBIV: ROY=warm colors, BIV=cool colors. Split at green. Quick color temperature classification for mood-based design briefs.
Complementary Pairs — Red-Green, Blue-Orange, Yellow-Purple (opposite on color wheel). Maximum contrast pairs for striking design compositions.
Design History & Movements
Bauhaus Principle — Form Follows Function. Modernist mantra summarizing the movement's core philosophy—useful for design theory questions.
Art Movements Timeline — Renaissance→Baroque→Rococo→Neoclassicism→Romanticism→Realism→Impressionism→Modernism→Postmodernism. Chronological framework for art history context.