Electronic – What are rubbery, conductive strips called on the sides of an LCD screen

You can hook up the LCD as described in that article, and start testing pins by hooking the common up to one pin, and the drive up to another pin. Map out the whole LCD this way and you should soon see which segments go to which pins.

A static LCD will have one pin, common, that will drive all other segments (should be easy to find) and another pin for each segment on the display.

A multiplexed display will have 2 or more common pins that each drive a number of segments, an each other pin will drive a few segments.

I would go for the acrylic over the entire front. This way you don't have to worry about where the LCD's edges connect with the front plate. Cover the front with self-adhesive aluminium foil, with a cut-out for the display. Since the foil is conductive I guess you can't laser-print symbols and indications on it, but there exist etching tools to give it a professional look.

Alternatively you can use an, also aluminium, front-plate to place before the acrylic LCD window. This service (no affiliation) will let you download a design tool to allow you to design your front plate.

Another technique I used a few times also gives a professional looks despite the low tech materials used. Place a double-sided self-adhesive film on your front panel (flush with the LCD's acrylic window). Print your font panel's layout on a piece of paper and place that on the self-adhesive film. Cover the paper with an also adhesive sheet of textured 0.5mm Lexan film.