Most of the mocked-up displays in "2001" strike me as not that bad in design, though they're spare and wireframey and are often clearly being displayed with film projection. The lights projected on Dave's face from the display console of his space pod make no sense, but I chalk that up to poetic license.

In some ways, the 1980s tech used in "2010" seems more primitive (there's a scene in which Roy Scheider lounges on the beach and uses what is clearly an Apple IIc with the never-shipped LCD attachment--though no power cord is in sight).