n.o.design is the creation of kai bates, who was born in germany in 1970 and lived in the washington, dc, area for over 25 years. he currently lives in portland, oregon.

since 1994, he has worked on design and internet projects for large clients, such as discovery communications, america online, and usa today; as well as many small businesses, such as record stores, comic book stores, photographers, art galleries, etc.

he officially started n.o.design in 2001.

his creative influences include punk, industrial, metal, grunge, and rock music artists, such as trent reznor, ian mackaye, les claypool, and mike patton; art rock poster artists, such as alan forbes and frank kozik; the street art of shepard fairey; photographers of the punk and grunge eras, such as glen e. friedman and charles peterson; and movies, comic books, video games, skate and surf culture, etc.