Jane Patterson holds degrees in fine and computer arts from Colorado College and the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she received the Rhodes Memorial Award for Outstanding Graduate student. She specializes in color theory (she helped prepare Josef Albers Interaction of Color) and type design. She has lectured and instructed courses at the School of Visual Arts, Yale University School of Design, Kodak Center for Creative Imaging, and the Art Center College of Design, Europe.

Patterson‘s students include Daryl Roske and Ken O’Brien, who provide designs to Font Bureau. Apprenticed to Ed Benguiat at Photolettering Inc., Patterson turned to life as a type designer, joining the Font Bureau in 1991, where she became Senior Designer & Office Manager. Today she is the founder of Design Lab SRL, Milan, the first digital typefoundry in Italy, where she works on projects for Rizzoli, Mondadori, Garzanti, Corriere della Sera, Fiat and the Italian parliament. She strives to gain knowledge of the art, science and history of the profession and all that surrounds it, concentrating on perfection in the craft of design.