About – Matthew Blackett

THE SHORT VERSION

Since 1997, Matthew Blackett has been an innovative figure in the Canadian magazine and media landscape. His creative and entrepreneurial approach to independent publishing — combined with his design, illustrative, and editorial skills — has set him apart from his colleagues and won him numerous distinctions over his career. He is best known as the publisher, creative director and one of the founders of Spacing magazine, as well as the author, editor, and photographer of 13 books.

THE LONGER VERSION

… As publisher of Spacing, Matthew has helped shape it into one of Canada’s top small magazines: he was named Editor of the Year in 2007 by the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors and Spacing has been named Canadian Small Magazine of the Year on six occasions. Since its inception, Spacing has been nominated for 22 National Magazine Awards and taken home four honours.

In 2014, Matthew led the launch of the Spacing Store, a retail extension of the magazine’s brand. At the time of the shop’s opening, Spacing was the only consumer magazine in the Canada to operate a bricks-and-mortar shop.

Matthew has won multiple awards for his work with Spacing and as an advocate for Toronto, including the 2007 Canadian Urban Leadership Award, the 2010 Jane Jacobs Prize, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for his dedication to urban issues in Canada.

In 2017, Blackett’s work as executive producer and host of the five-part TV series 50 Objects That Define Toronto won a Toronto Heritage Award for Public History, and his own photography book The Beautiful Mess of Toronto Laneways was nominated in the same category in 2019. His fictitious map “City of Canada Transit” was selected as one of Canada’s entries into the 2019 International Cartographic Association exhibit in Tokyo. And in 2022, the book Remnants of Mid-Century Toronto (designed and edited by Matthew) received the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation. He’s been nominated and won numerous awards for his magazine, book, and product design work.

He is a frequent speaker at conferences, panel discussions, and has served on numerous urban design award juries. He is often seen, heard, and quoted in Canada’s local and national media as a contributor or commentator on a variety of urban issues.

Matthew speaking about his career arc at Creative Mornings, 2014 — 30 mins

THE WHOLE STORY

1985-1993
The publishing bug grabbed Matthew at an early age when he created a sports newspaper page in grade four to specifically highlight the athletic exploits of his circle of friends on the schoolyard. While in grade eight, he opened the weekend comic section of the Toronto Sun to find his submission had been chosen for the newspaper’s emerging cartoonist feature. The adrenaline rush of seeing his own work on the printed page — seen by thousands of other readers and appearing beside his favourite comic strips like Bloom County and Calvin & Hobbes — cemented his desire to work in the world of comics, storytelling, and publishing. In high school, Matthew was a visual arts major in the Claude Watson School of the Arts at Earl Haig Secondary School where he also published comics in the yearbook and school paper. During his graduating year, Matthew was the school’s yearbook editor, an experience that helped lay the foundation for future comic and publishing endeavours.

A comic by Matt in his high school yearbook, 1993

COLLEGE DAYS 1993-1998

In 1993, Matthew decamped for Ottawa to study journalism at Carleton University where he landed a gig at The Resin as the student paper’s editorial cartoonist. He transferred back home to Toronto the following year to attend Humber College’s J-school where he continued to draw editorial comics for the campus paper, the Humber Et Cetera. Matthew excelled in Humber’s print publishing stream where he took on the role of art director for the weekly paper, earning numerous design and editorial packaging awards, including from Columbia University’s annual student review. He graduated in 1997 with honours and was chosen as the school’s top journalism student with the Toronto Star Award and top photojournalist with the Kodak Canada Award. Upon graduation, Matthew worked for a year as an instructor at Humber in the School of Media Studies teaching desktop publishing classes. He taught similar classes again from 2004-2008 and resumed teaching in 2025, this time focused on photojournalism and design.

THE HOCKEY NEWS 1998-2003

While attending Humber, Matthew interned for a year at The Hockey News as an editorial assistant to editor-in-chief Steve Dryden on the magazine’s 50th anniversary project naming the Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time. The following school year, he worked part-time for the magazine as a production assistant and photo editor. After his teaching contract at Humber expired in 1998, Matthew was hired as The Hockey News’ first art director. Over the next five years he contributed to over 250 issues, led major redesigns of the weekly magazine and yearbook, helped design and launch the magazine’s first website, and produced special collector’s edition magazines for Wayne Gretzky’s retirement in 1999, Century of Hockey in 2000, and the 2002 Winter Olympics. During the final two years of his tenure, Matthew worked as a newsstand design specialist creating over 125 covers for a variety of magazines, annuals, and special issues for the magazine’s parent company, Transcontinental Publications.

MOONLIGHTING CARTOONIST 1998-2007

After leaving college, Matthew had to find new outlets for his cartooning ambitions. Starting in 1998, he decided to moonlight in his off-hours from The Hockey News as an independent cartoonist, drawing a collection of wry and semi-autobiographical comic strips under the alias m@b (pronounced “Matt B”, his childhood nickname). Using the publishing skills developed at Humber and working in the mainstream media, Matthew created tremendous buzz in the comic world for his unique and persistent approach to marketing and promotion. Matthew appeared on the cover of Eye Weekly in March 2003 where he was profiled for the release of his comic anthology Wide Collar Crimes and as one of the featured cartoonists at the inaugural Toronto Comic Arts Festival. He published weekly m@b comic strips for four years in Eye and travelled North America as a featured comic artist at numerous alternative press festivals. He brought the comic to an end when Eye transitioned into The Grid in 2007.

MATT B MEDIA 2003-2007

Matthew occasionally took on freelance design work during his run at The Hockey News. By the time Wide Collar Crimes was released in March 2003, Matthew had built up enough of a following for his comic, along with a strong client base of freelance work, to strike out on his own and start his own design studio, Matt B Media. In those early years, he produced a wide range of materials: from designing annual reports for non-profits to exhibition installations for conferences, from gig posters for local rock bands to a guide book about birds in Ontario.

Matthew eventually took on high profile clients like the City of Toronto (Walking Strategy report and packaging), Toronto Transit Commission (Transit City marketing strategy and materials), Firefox/Mozilla (meeting room design concept and installation), University of Toronto (Three Cities of Toronto report and research series), and worked on numerous political campaigns including being the lead designer for Adam Vaughan’s 2006 run for city councillor. Matthew continues to take on limited design freelance work.

SPACING 2003-present

It was hard to keep Matthew away from the world of magazines after he left the The Hockey News. One of his first “clients” as a freelancer was a magazine project he’d been developing with friends focused on Toronto’s public space issues. In December 2003, Spacing magazine was launched with Matthew in the role of publisher and creative director. The magazine quickly took over most of his freelance work; so much so that he has spent the last two decades leading the magazine and its unique auxiliary projects. Spacing emerged as an integral voice that has helped mould the city’s public realm.

Under Matthews’s leadership, Spacing has been cited as an industry leader and innovator by showcasing a unique business model and outreach strategy unlike any other that exists in Canada. While shaping Spacing into one of Canada’s top small magazines, Matthew was named Editor of the Year for 2007 by the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors, while Spacing has been named Canadian Small Magazine of the Year six times, Best Canadian Magazine Blog three times, and Best Canadian Magazine Web Site three times. Spacing has been nominated for 22 National Magazine Awards since its inception. In 2014, Matthew led the launch of the Spacing Store, a retail extension of the magazine’s brand. The opening of the shop made Spacing the only consumer magazine in the Canada to operate a bricks-and-mortar shop. Since 2015, Spacing has been publishing books focused on Toronto history with Blackett acting as editor and art director for 13 of the publications.

OTHER MEDIA 2003-present

Matthew’s work over two decades with Spacing has led him to be profiled in numerous publications and television shows. As publisher, he’s made guest appearances as a commentator on numerous national and local television news shows, such as CBC National News, CTV Newshour, and CP24’s Hour Town. He has contributed opinion columns to The Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, and Toronto Sun. He has been a frequent guest on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning and Here and Now shows; in 2014, he was a featured weekly contributor to the programs. Matthew provided analysis during local election coverage for CBC television in 2006 and 2018. Matthew hosted the five-part television series 50 Objects That Define Toronto on Bell Media in 2018.

ADVOCACY 2001-present

Matthew has been a longtime advocate for a range of civic issues in Toronto and has served as a member or director for the following:

Founding member of Toronto Public Space Committee (2001), member of Roundtable on a Clean & Beautiful City (2004-2010), director of Friends of the Greenbelt (2006-2008), director of Friends of Fort York (2007-2013), member of Toronto Pedestrian Committee (2010-2014), member of TTC Customer Service Blue Ribbon panel (2010), member of Ryerson University’s City Building Institute (2015-2018), and member of Ontario Creates’ magazine advisory panel (2014-2020).

AWARDS

Matthew has won multiple awards for his editorial and design work with Spacing and as an advocate for Toronto. Below is a selection of distinctions from throughout his career.

2012 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his dedication to urban issues in Canada.
Co-recipient of the 2010 Jane Jacobs Prize for “contributing to the fabric of Toronto life in a unique way… that has become a part of our shared urban experience.”
“Remnants of Mid-Century Toronto” received the 2022 Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.
2007 Canadian Urban Leadership Award for “City Soul” by the Canadian Urban Institute for his part in creating Spacing.
Blackett’s work as executive producer and host of the five-part TV series 50 Objects That Define Toronto won a 2017 Toronto Heritage Award for Public History. His photography book, The Beautiful Mess of Toronto Laneways, was a runner-up in 2019 for a Toronto Heritage Award for Public History.
His fictitious map City of Canada Transit was selected as one of Canada’s entries into the 2019 International Cartographic Association exhibit in Tokyo.
2015 University of Toronto Arbour Award for his “tireless support of Innis College’s Urban Studies Program [by providing] a rare opportunity to research and write for a highly visible and respected publication.”
2011 Fedeation of Canadian Municipalities excellence & innovation (transportation) for Toronto Walking Strategy report.
2007 Editor of the Year, Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME)
2005 Subway buttons named Top 5 “Wearable” Self-Promotion Item of the Year by HOW Design magazine
2005 Subway buttons named one of top design items of the year in Coupe magazine
2005 Best Single Issue Design by Applied Arts magazine (Spring/Summer 2004)

WITH SPACING AS EDITOR, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, PUBLISHER

Canadian Small Magazine of the Year (2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015) by CSME
Best Canadian Magazine Blog (2011, 2012, 2013) by CSME
Best Canadian Magazine Web Site (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) by CSME
2014 Magazine Best Front of Book by CSME
2014 Best Magazine Art Integration by CSME
2012 Magazine Best Front of Book by CSME
2008 Silver, National Magazine Awards for Best Editorial Package (Summer 2007)
2007 Best Local Blog, Spacing Toronto in NOW Magazine’s Best of Toronto
2006 Gold, National Magazine Award for Best Editorial Package (Spring-Summer 2005)
2006 Heritage Toronto Award, media category
2005 Best Local Blog, Spacing Toronto chosen by readers of Eye Weekly