Yes almost anything would be an improvement to the former!
Cleanness is good but it often comes at the expense of personality. The "after" option is nice in the same way a minimalist house is nice: Looks good on Pinterest but it is lacks life. Leaning too much into trends has an interesting way of making a thing visually stale.
To further Karnage's iriginal point, some design is constantly recycled and some design never goes out of style in the first place.