No object-level justification can address the (even) more important meta-level point, which is that they made changes to the visual appearance of LW without consulting the community first. This is a no-no!

Design by a committee composed of conflicting vocal minorities? No thanks.

EDIT: Note that I don't disagree with you that this in particular was a bad design change. I disagree that consulting the community on every design change is a profitable policy.