Hi eric,

Creating such major changes to the design would require creating a theme, which almost certainly requires that you can code PHP. There are a number of themes available for download that you can study and you can find out how to create your own by reading the docs. (Follow the Docs link in the top menu).

Eric, changing the look and feel of your Elgg can be done in various ways. First I suggest you view the css file and if you have knowledge in styling using css you can modify the look and feel and even add new areas. 

There is a good theme with good instructions. The theme is based on the basic Elgg theme and it gives you the chance to play around with it and modify the look and feel. The them is 'theme-elgg-example. As for adding content, well, it all depends on where the content is coming from.. you may need to call the content onto the pages by modifying the relative files.

-Carlos