As an artist currently taking some courses on graphic design and typography, I'm sorry if I sound nitpicky or harsh here. :p

1. Kerning... A little more space between each letter would look a lot nicer. The tiny space in the Economy c also really, really bugs me.

2. I think it is the font, but the bottoms of rounded letters are flattened. It looks like they are chopped off and ruin the softness of the curves. #1 Economy Server should also be centered. And I really love the Craft's t being lifted and the crane, but it puts the banner off-balance when something else isn't tilted on the other side.

3. The second border (black) around the letters feels off. It isn't really noticeable on #1 Economy Server, the money, or the city, and only subtly on the crane. I would remove it all together. The bolder, colored borders are good as they are.

4. There is drop shadow on the money, city, and crane... This is probably more of a personal preference, but I wouldn't have it there. It feels unbalanced top-to-bottom becaues #1 Economy Server is also in the foreground. The dropshadow makes the symbolism feel like it is in the background.

5. Color-wise, I've preferred the mostly-green theme with hints of blue that Andrew has been aiming for (forum theme, server banners on voting sites, most of ECC's iterations of logos, banners, themes, etc). Consist branding is huge with graphics and showing professionalism. The icon standing out isn't as big, but something like the banner on the main forum is. I (personally) would color pick from the forum's default colors. The mossy (warmer) green, softer (warmer) blues, and hints of bright gold and accents of middle grays.

6. Finally, I think the banner is too... tall? It's more square than rectangular, at least by appearance. That is generally less pleasant to the human mind.

 

+1
Different banner would be great. The current banner isn't bad, but so far the banners we've had haven't really been banners so much as pictures.
I'd like to have a banner that looked more professional.

 

bump