Hasta La Creative!

Since late last week, when we pointed out the not-so-positive reaction many people had to Target's homepage redesign, we've been trying to answer two seemingly simple questions: Who did the redesign, and why?

Now, Target has finally responded to our inquiries, and while the retailer defends the redesign as a way to highlight a larger number of holiday deals, it has declined to reveal whether it was an in-house project or assigned to a digital agency.

"Over the last two weeks we have unveiled several new home pages on Target.com to support the increased number of deals on our site this holiday season," a Target spokesman wrote in an email to AdFreak. "User testing prior to launch, and actual site traffic and sales performance since, have been very positive. We plan additional changes to our design and features, and will track guest response and make adjustments along the way."

Asked specifically whether the redesign was managed internally or by an agency, the rep replied, "Nothing further to share."

AdFreak reached out to four of the largest digital agencies that have high-profile relationships with Target—Olson, SapientNitro, Huge and Razorfish—and each denied any involvement in the redesign. Several said they believed the work was all managed in-house by Target.

Meanwhile, though the initial surge of criticism seems to be fading, most of the feedback to the site redesign remains pretty negative.

"With all the boxes outlining deals and specials," writes Jezebel, "it's like some unholy cross between Pinterest and a supermarket circular."