OR do we just have to guess and keep spinning the dials

Out of maybe 15 or 20 total pedestal/Claw puzzles, I've had usable clues in I think two - once I had a kind of poem clue, another time the correct symbol was on the wall of the alcove holding the individual pedestals.

Am I missing something, or did Bethesda just did a lousy job?

Claw puzzles, the answer is on the claw. At least the two or three I have done. Highlight it in your inventory, and then zoom in on it, and you can manipulate it and move it around.
Pedestals, again I've only done a few of these. Some they are on the walls behind the pedestal itself, and the one in the barrow with the dragonstone, on the overhead wall.

I assume you meant PILLAR puzzles. Look around for clues: the correct symbols are depicted in carvings, usually stone heads. Their spatial arrangement
usually reflect the order in which they must be activated.

There are two exceptions: one is in the tomb containing one of Gauldur's amulet fragments, the other is tied to a small riddle in which the various animals are associated with environments (water, grass, sky...)

Yes, look around for the pillar puzzle clues. Sometimes the clue is damaged, so you have to check the rubble for the symbol. There was one place with four pillars side-by-side. I looked up and around but saw no clues. The pillars were up on a platform. I had to approach the platform in order to discover the clues hidden behind the detritus and vines in front of it. If anything, I find the doors and bridges that use a lever or some other mundane activator much more challenging. In fact, it may have been in one of the Gualdur's tombs that I spent a half-hour trying to drop a bridge. I was running right past the lever, which was in plain sight if only I had turned around.

I think in Sky Haven Temple the symbol used to get past a puzzle for a bridge is the symbol of the Dovahkiin. Nice touch, that.