[snowwindwaves]

Why are gauges bad design? Or was it just that the screen was filled with gauges - too much information to be absorbed?

I design power plant control systems and part of that is an HMI using one of wonderware, citect, factory talk, etc.

In general where a number is primarily presented, on the screen where the controls are that will change that number, I try to use a gauge (mostly vertical bar gauges) to show the context for the number. The gauge shows what values are high and low by the scale and I put the low alarm, low trip, high alarm, high trip points on the gauge as yellow and red bands so the operator knows when the value is approaching one of those thresholds. If the alarm or trip is raised the bar colour changes to amber or red if it is alarm/trip so that when the alarm or trip appears in the sequence of event log and they go to the screen where they know what system is displayed it is immediately obvious which variables are over their limits and by how much.

I also usually put a line chart so the operator can see how the variables have changed with time.

I based much of the design on "Alarm Management for Process Control" by Rothenberg and "The High Performance HMI Handbook" by Hollifield and Habibi.

Edit: my vertical bar gauges look pretty similar to the bullet graphs linked by the parent. I generally call the circular car dashboard gauges "wiper gauges" because of the action of the needle I suppose