Print Design Critique #1: Place to Be Newsletter

As I walked into the musty, wood-stained office of Place to Be, my eyes scanned the scene, looking for something, anything that would be seen hanging from the door posts of the tenants for this month.  There, in all its glory, sat the bright orange newsletter glowing brilliantly against the mahogany desk that cradled the paper.  Gingerly, I picked it up, surveyed the room and quickly made my great escape through the towering door frame that was much too grand for any leasing office.  The targeted audience for this particular newsletter was a younger adult, primarily a college student.  Proximity is used in this piece, but not very efficiently.  There are multiple boxed texts are spaced without rhyme or reason.  The various pictures were strewn on the page like a lazy afterthought that was supposed to add pizzazz, but only cluttered the page.  There is no clear alignment seen to the naked eye, or any eye for that matter.  The main title, "September SPECIALS", was center-aligned (naturally), as well as every piece of text within the individual text boxes.   This document could use some sort of uniform alignment that made it appear more organized and thought-out.  The design incorporates some tacky repetition.  There are black stars found on the document in various places and the text is boxed in repeatedly.  The additional graphics used in the piece are a bit too much, causing your mind to spin and your eyes to cross.  In regards to contrast,  there are no particular texts or symbols that cause your eye to focus in one thing.  The document is so busy that the reader doesn't get a clear picture of what the message is.  The design elements help unify the document, but do not do it in a prestigious, classy way by any means.  How is a annoyingly big smiley face pointing to "Big Sale!" supposed to encourage you to rent from Place to Be?  The title words, "September SPECIALS" do not encourage you to take a second glance and you quickly lose interest.  The use of the repetitive stars do allow the reader to gather that the document is unified, yet crafted by an 8-year-old.  I argue that a simple sample of clip art does not justify all that was clearly missing or poorly constructed.  Ever heard of Microsoft Word vomit?  Other than the color of paper it was printed on, I would not have cast a second glance at this newsletter, and will refuse to do so in the future.