One of the best pieces of advice I heard regarding designing instruments is "Data is not information, unless it can be interpreted". If a pilot has to stop and think "what the hell does that mean", as stated previously regarding the caption ABN, then it is not an intuitive design. This obviously has the caviat "with reasonable training".
It sometimes can be difficult not to be distracted and objectively assess something in terms of does it do the job, even when presented with multiple/a significant failure, rather than, it looks flash and works wonderfully when all is operating ok, in normal flight profiles.
RL - maybe you should update the much used/abused phrase of "thinking outside the box" to "thinking outside the xbox".
.......I'll get my coat.
With regards your preference for the I-O ADI when actually flying, the publications I recomended may go some way to explaining this. When you lose certain sensory cues, that you have been extensively conditioned/trained to interpret, that are not represented in a sim or on a PC game, the brains natural preference regards the O-I as the more intuitive presentation. This is my view anyway.