The minimal-profile is something I experimented with when I made my current profile picture (http://stackoverflow.com/users/55720/machinaut) and really liked the look of it.

Your lineup of speakers looks great! To me it's a good combination of minimalism with just enough details to pick out what's important.

Using less detail definitely looks better. I noticed that when my window is ~950 pixels wide, though, I lose the names above each person as the display scrolls down. I found the names helpful for understanding who someone was, as I didn't decipher all of the doodled versions perfectly.

Yeah, the picture linked above kinds of creepy. I like the one currently being used better. By the way, it's a really impressive piece. Job well done!