Is the goal for this re-design is to reduce this site's CPU/bandwidth usage?
Other than the annoying Like\Dislike thought police post rating system that has become trendy, I thought the old board was fantastic and made perfect use of the team's colors. In comparison, the new look is bland and generic -- a definite step back from the old look. Not a fan of the circle space for avatars either, since 99% of the photos people use are rectangular. Makes zero sense to do that.