teen advice site:need your opinions pls

[doubled]

hey guys. I'm co-working on building a teen advice site and need your opinions on my index page. My co-worker thinks it's fine but I'm not too sure whether the whole layout works. It's html at the mo, though i think it's more suitable for flash (but i'm not too great using flash at the mo.)
The screenshot isn't actual size, hasn't been centered, etc.
Any comment/opinions/criticism/advice will be greatly appreciated.
Lol if you think it totally sucks and needs a complete new layout please say.
thanks
D.

[ConceptualMind]

Bah, I think it's WAY too childish. I suggest a new layout.

[doubled]

Lol thanks for being honest. I personally thought it seemed more suitable for primary school age than teens.
Was thinking of having a sort of spider diagram as the index page. Would look more grown up, less graphic heavy and load quicker. Sound better?

[Yusecki]

I'm a teen (granted at the end of it but I still remember the early parts reasonably well) and I know for a fact I wouldn't go there. To build a teen advice sitw you need to really look at what kind of sites teenagers go on. Heres a few from my memory (sorry if they don't all work);
http://www.projectrockstar.com <-- a online games site for both genders, notice the colour scheme and layout
http://www.mykindaplace.com <-- a teen girl site woth advice etc. in it notice the neutral colours to it and use of whie space.
http://www.worriedneed2talk.org.uk/ <-- general site about teen problems, notice layout and use of white space.

[doubled]

Thanks for your comments. LOl, the whole site layout wasn't that colourful, btw, the rest of the pages were white and in the shape of a book.
But I'm definately gonna ditch the layout and post the new one here when i finish it.
Thanks again guys.
D.