I didn't know what to expect from digital consultant Nico Macdonald, who has worked for the Guardian and the BBC.
But when he described instant messaging service Twitter as "ridiculously overhyped", it was apparent his musings on extending print brands online would be worth listening to.
Macdonald, from the consultancy Spy, addressed a session at the Periodical Publishers Association Magazines2008 conference today at Grosvenor House hotel in London.
He pointed out that print brands and online brands are not the same thing and defined them completely differently. A print brand is about typography, paper stock, photographs, design and layout and quality of content, he said.
But the online world is different. Macdonald defines an online brand thus: "Ultimately how satisfied you are with your interaction with something."
A neat idea and one he used to attack many websites with poor design. Up came a site with a full page photograph of a ruined community in Burma after the cyclone. It was a striking image. He contrasted this full-page photographic display with many newspaper sites.
"Strong imagery on the web is something that we don't see - particularly on newspaper websites - which is remarkable. Clearly there are licensing issues but this is just cowardice," MacDonald said.
He urged web designers to design for immediate and long-term finding by web users, for complex interactions because users would find many paths through their pages. Also users would use multiple modes of navigation and use sites in multiple environments including on mobile phones and BlackBerrys.
Macdonald said it was important that design came before technology, and that websites should not commission the technology before they had decided on their design. He urged the audience to avoid fads on their sites - which he defined as social networking, sites like Flickr - and Twitter, which he called "ridiculously overhyped".
He called for more integration between publishing systems, saying that links that appear on websites don't appear in print when they should.
Lastly, he urged sites to design forward, keeping in mind future needs and how sites will need to develop in the future.
Read the full text of Macdonald's speech here
