Michael Doret grew up in Brooklyn, New York near the tattered remains of the wonderful old collection of amusement parks known as Coney Island. Inspiration for his work came from those early years near the banners, signage and brilliant colors of his Brooklyn neighborhood, and from frequently visiting Times Square where his father worked for MGM among the bright lights, billboards, and general cacophony of the "Great White Way". Similar inspiration came later from such diverse sources as matchbook covers, enamel signs, packaging, and the numerous and varied artifacts of the mid-century America of his childhood.

After graduating from Cooper Union, and after several years at different staff positions, Michael set up a design studio in New York. He has, for many years, specialized in letterform art, and an integrated approach to the disciplines of lettering, illustration and graphic design. He currently runs a studio out of his home in Pasadena, California.

For many years he concentrated almost exclusively on logo and lettering projects, but in the early 2000s Michael expanded the base of his work to include font design. Michael’s original fonts and font families are available through his type foundry Alphabet Soup.