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Within the context of redesigns I think there exists some value in looking at Facebook's failed card-based redesign back in 2013:

https://dcurt.is/facebooks-predicament

Essentially this big, beautiful design driven redesign ultimately never shipped because users spent less time on it. Certain design 'improvements' like increased padding between stories reduces density and as a result tends to reduce readership, for example. The internet as perceived by Engineers and Designers is quite different from the masses (even with Reddit's demographic differences from FB taken into account).

Reddit needs to be really careful with a redesign: data should lead the rollout efforts, not design. I think they are due for some UX improvements, perhaps around a gradual UI refresh; however, I have little faith in the product leadership at Reddit to pull this off. Huffman and crew need to be willing to can the entire redesign if user research and data come back negative.

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* Search box doesn't look like an input control * Low contrast for top right nav (how do I change to any other page?) * Where did my groups and apps go? * Large pictures, great for mock ups, but it just means more scrolling when 80% of content I don't care or want to see; I really don't want to have a picture of a high school friend's baby take up the whole screen * etc.