Consider a color other than orange.

[kwight]

I find the orange a little distracting, particularly now that the banner is dark. Maybe a light gray background for the unread issues?

[sirbrillig]

Here's some experiments. First, the current color (I hacked the notification to be unread, so ignore the "no new notifications" banner in the screenshots):

Now some variations:

1.
2.

3.

Thoughts?

[kwight]

The first one's your winner (could even go a little lighter). And a green checkmark!

[michaeldcain]

I don't mind the current version, but you could always move the color to a border: