Website Redesign: design or function

What’s wrong with this site?

Brick, A Literary Journal has been around forever. The magazine boasts some of the most talented writer’s and has a following of readers world wide. The site has served its purpose well but as we move into the more interactive realm of publishing, how can this site adapt?

Give me your feedback:

-What is your first impression of the site?
-What is the site about? What is its main purpose/goal?
-Where does your eye travel on the page?
-Which buttons do you click?
-What does the site need?

OTD covers for FEEDBACK!

I had to design a cover for my design class that could be suitable for OTD. Since I knew there would be so many wonderful covers worth consideration for OTD, I decided instead to use the opportunity to learn more about photoshop and implement some of the techniques. I dove into dozens of online tutorials and put together a cover that I like, though it doesn’t really hit the OTD mandate and the cover lines are competing too much with the cover design. You can see the evolution (trying to make the logo pop more and trying to let the cover lines come to the forefront). Have I succeeded? I think it still needs work, but feedback would be helpful.

I’ve also attached the other cover shots I like. But they are unformatted at the moment.