Thanks for your feedback. I must admit I agree on the contrast - I have already tweaked it once for higher contrast and will have another look. (edit: Done and pushed to site).
For your other points:
+ Too many colors: We use white, gray, black, a red for titles+links and a light blue for "enclosed backgrounds". That is 5 colors and they are used consistently across the whole site for each usage (White and black which aren't strictly colors but you know what I mean).
Have a look at the google home page. Including the 4 colors of their standard logo how many colors are there ?
+ The title font is copperplate gothic. Why have we chosen this ? Well, it matches the MultiBit logo, and is used in the installer (and was used in the splash screen until I took that out for technical reasons). This is for across media consistency.
Copperplate gothic looks different to modern fonts because it is **old**. Look at the wiki. It dates from 1901 and its design motif harks back to earlier Victorian engravings on churchs etc. Wander around an old graveyard on a sunny Sunday and you'll see lots of copperplate on tombstones.
Copperplate gothic is actually a simplified version of the font used in copperplate intaglio printing. This dates back to the 15th century in Europe.
Because of its age, it is often used as the font on bank and lawyer office doors. See what we are doing here ?
We are using a design metaphor that signifies age and establishment and stability. For money. It is exactly the same as why central banks use Greek columns in their headquarters 'face'.
Bank of England at Threadneedle St, London:
