This is obviously a matter of taste, but I preferred the old TechCrunch look, Frederico Oliveira’s design: 
cleaner, easier on the eye. I find the new, greener pastures a bit harsh, too vibrant. Apparently so do the overwhelming majority of readers, based on a vote count of 256, 72% prefer the old site. This is a static pic here, but if you click through, you can vote yourself, which then allows you to see the dynamic vote-count. The poll is run by Ouriel Ohayon, the editor of the French TechCrunch which still appears to follow the old design – and so does Mike Arrington’s sidekick blog, CrunchNotes.
I understand the need for more advertising space though…
Update (5/13): This stirred up quite a blog-storm. Here’s an interesting comment: “Now, Techcrunch is all web 2.0, which is supposed to be about users, conversations and listening amongst other things. So given that Poll you link to above, I wonder: WIll Techcrunch listen to it’s audience?“
Well, this will certainly be interesting … will Mike follow the Gold standard, or … ?
Tags: techcrunch, crunchnotes, webreakstuff, design, webdesign, blogdesign, zoliblog
Zoli,
I too am missing the old Crunch. It’s not even the colors per se that bother me, but how super commercy it is. While I’m not going to begrudge Michael’s attempt to capitalize on the popularity of his blogging efforts, as a consumer of his information, I no fan of all the commerce driven components now.
I will ask the man when I see him in Zaragoza…I’m more concerned about the lack of attention to those who are red-green colourblind.