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The weak link in LSU’s Welcome to the NOW campaign appears to be the redesign of the university’s official Web site, which has site visitors and Web critics alike scratching their heads.

The campaign is part of LSU’s grand plan to polish its national image, recruit smarter students, boost its U.S. News and World Report academic ranking and solicit more money from donors.

The Web redesign took a year and launched in mid-January, and by all accounts, it falls a little short.

The opening page features inexplicable photos of grade-school children, and an angry driver in traffic. In some cases, links don’t work. The fonts appear to be a mishmash, including one that looks like scribble. Sub pages don’t match, and there seems to be a lack of overall cohesiveness, critics say.

But it was no quick job. Redesigning the Web site is an idea administrators have been kicking around for a few years, according to Lori Kemp, LSU director of creative services. Kemp says LSU spent time asking for input from faculty, staff and students. The new site was designed in-house for negligible cost.

The problem is the Web site isn’t exactly done yet. That is its biggest problem, says Stafford Kendall, a web consultant and principal of newly-opened design shop, Covalent Logic.

“They have about 250,000 pages on the site, and they’ve redesigned only the front-most few,” Kendall says. “[Some sites] aren’t even on the new logo or the last logo, they’re two logos behind — that doesn’t help establish the brand.”

Kendall says sites such as Yahoo!, the University of Georgia and Auburn University use templates and logos to keep consistency throughout their Web pages.

LSU’s Kemp says it will take time for her office to train and convert every university department to the new format — and she plans to start with the higher-profile sites right away.

Although more modern bells and whistles such as an interactive flash presentation on the front page were needed, Kendall says, the redesign didn’t go far enough.

There are still fundamental problems with basic things such as the site’s search engine, she says. A simple search for “application” doesn’t pull up the undergraduate or even graduate school applications, but choices for current students who are either visiting from or want to travel abroad.

Jen Wilson, an LSU alum who is now a graphic designer with LifeBrands advertising agency in New York, says the new site “has lost every indication that LSU is rooted in the tradition with which it was founded.” One example is the new tower, which she likens to commercial clip art.

“Simply making a Web site move doesn’t make it good,” Wilson says. “There needs to be a purpose behind it.”

Kendall agrees the Web site may not have the right foot forward.

“Who’s you’re audience?” she asks, clicking fanatically on different links. “Is it an information delivery device or a beautiful brochure to attract people? Because right now it’s really neither.”