Matt was born in 1961 in Peterborough, Ontario. His father Eric Thomas Warburton was a Birmingham-born design engineer draftsman who emigrated to Canada with his Canadian wife Ruth Joyce (nee. Trendell) in 1960. Matt’s interest in design was sparked by his father’s and grandfather’s stamp collections, a hobby he which he also enjoys.
Matt graduated from Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario in 1983. Upon graduation he began his formative training at Typsettra in Toronto doing typositor headline setting, handlettering, ad layouts and assembly. In November 1986 he acquired a position as a junior designer/production artist at Gottschalk + Ash’s Toronto office where he quickly became acquainted with the new Macintosh computers brought in by American Robert Jensen who was working at G+A. Feeling the pull of the mountains, Matt moved to Vancouver in 1989 with his then girlfriend Lynn, where he spent seven years with Herrainco Design Associates before striking out on his own as Emdoubleyu Design in 1997. Matt and Lynn were married in 1993 and have two children, Moira born in 1993 and Evan born in 1996.
Matt is known as a strong advocate for design in Canada and beyond. He has been actively involved with the GDC since joining the BC Chapter in 1990, and was President of the BC Chapter from 1997 to 2000 and VP Communications from 1993 to 1997. He was also VP Communications on the National Executive 1998–2002 and was instrumental in developing the gdc.net newsletters, the GDC membership binder contents in 2001 and various award-winning promotional materials and ads for the GDC — especially the large AGM commemorative posters. Matt then served as National President from 2002-2004 and as VP Communications again from 2009-2014, GDCBC Ethics Chair from 2011-2018 and is currently serving as the DesCan Vancouver secretary and National Ethics Chair. He is also now co-editor of the DesCan Design Journal.
Matt also co-chaired the Environs Conferences in Vancouver 2000 and 2002 and was actively involved with the Vancouver Icograda Regional Meeting in March 2002. Matt coordinated a series of profiles on the GDC Fellows with Applied Arts magazine which were published in 2002–2003 and in 2003 he chaired the Graphex’03 National Design Awards and co-chaired Icograda Design Week Vancouver in 2010. His work with the GDC has enabled him to promote the economic benefits of a strong community of graphic designers.
Matt’s outspoken and direct nature has led him to participate on a number of design-related committees such as the Alliance of Professional Design Associations (APDA) which was formed in BC in 1997; the Canadian Craft & Design Museum Advisory Committee from 2001–2002; the editorial advisory board of the GDC Journal from 1996 onwards; he was a member of the Canada Post Stamp Advisory Committee from 2001–2008 and is chair of the Kwantlen University College GDMA advisory committee. Matt also instructs part time at Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design and BCIT.
Since 2012 Matt has worked at the University of British Columbia, first as a senior designer and since 2014 as design manager for the university’s Brand and Marketing unit. In 2024 he was promoted to Associate Director, Design for the university. He continues to service Emdoubleyu clients such as the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, Green Coast Rubbish and Obsession: Bikes, working with his wife Lynn who is a communications consultant.
In his spare time Matt is an avid motorcyclist, mountain biker/roadie and snowboarder, home-brewmaster, as well as a born-again hockey player. He hopes to learn Canada’s other official language before senility sets in.
