Hello,
I’m one of freelancers based here (and live in the UK! 
) and part of a small band that maintains and develops a few plugins and takes on new work.
Yes, you might want to consider splitting this work up. Get the basic branding done (focus on logo, site links) just to get you launched and then following up with enhancements later?
This kind of work takes longer. One shortcut is use what already exists that is open source. Have you considered using one of our the existing Topic List Preview plugin and using Featured Images to send people to relevant highlighted topics?
Laura, have PM’d you with proposed next steps.