Make notification and reputation counts bigger again

Question

The top bar's recent problems were mostly fixed, however there's still one thing that bugs me:

The number is smaller than before, and harder to read. Compare with how it used to be before the changes:

Two factors affect the readability from what I see:

1. Font size - became smaller.
2. Background around the number - used to be a spacy rectangle, now it's a small circle.

Can the previous design of the counts be restored, or the existing design be improved please?

Answer 1

For the same reasons I've mentioned before the notifications are still overall small and hard to see.

I used to be able to walk around the house and see from a distance if there was an event on screen. Now it's just harder.

Getting hit by the large green +N🟩 sign also felt like a satisfying experience (like the checkout at an online store). I could understand making the box smaller if the aim was reducing effects of gamification on users, but as a design choice it reduced the visual appeal of gaining reputation.