Ladies and Gents
Many thanks to those of you who completed or will complete the "surveymonkey" questions. You also made some very valid points here in the forum.
The modified display style was tested in an eye-tracking experiment and the main goal was to evaluate, if the number of "missed" mode transitions can be reduced. The analysis is ongoing. I am aware that the involved display is not the latest, but the point here is really the philosophy, not the "graphics". Obviously the proposed design has some drawbacks, such as drawing the attention "away" from a critical parameter under certain conditions. I agree that the best safety feature is a properly trained pilot, but at the same time we should not stop exploring new ideas from the engineering side.
Feel free to share the survey and many thanks again.
avionics_engineer