I actually dislike the graphics as well; everything seems bigger and clunkier. Some of it is nice, but other parts not so much.
And I'm not sure if this is what you were talking about, but I definitely think the icon should go on the left of the "Menu" text, rather than on the right.
The way the interface is organized, it feels like I'm a newcomer on every page. For example, on the discussions page, we have this text in a very prominent position (taking up a full quarter of the page):
"Participate in the discussions and build your developer profile on Hashnode. You can also ask questions anonymously, if you are too shy."
I could understand this being displayed to new users, but for people who already use the site, that's 25% of the screen wasted.