Designing a Visual Bridge Between Legacy and the Future
For the Setting the Standard Black History Month campaign, the Los Angeles Rams partnered with multidisciplinary designer and creative director Michael Fletcher, whose work lives at the intersection of culture, sport, and storytelling. Known for collaborations with brands and artists including Nike, the Dallas Mavericks, Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky, Foot Locker, Adidas, and professional athletes across the NFL and NBA, Fletcher approaches design as a way to translate history into something present, lived, and forward-looking.
That philosophy sits at the heart of Setting the Standard. Rather than treating the helmet as pure iconography, Fletcher reimagined it as a frame into something deeper.
"Setting the Standard was about creating a visual bridge between past and future," Fletcher explains. "I wanted the work to feel like something you look into rather than just look at. On the field, we always see the helmet first, but rarely the humanity behind it. This campaign flips that perspective and lets you look inside into legacy, identity, and impact."
Throughout the campaign, glitch elements, hand-drawn textures, and layered typography reflect the tension between eras. The work blends analog and digital language to mirror the reality of today's players, who inherit a lineage built decades ago while operating in a fully modern, digital world.
"These players come from a lineage that started decades ago, but they're operating in a future-facing world," Fletcher says. "The work intentionally blends history and speculation to show how Black excellence in the game isn't frozen in time. It's evolving."
Place plays a critical role as well. Fletcher grounds the visuals in Los Angeles through dark, transit-map-inspired textures that echo the city's structure and movement. Having lived and worked in Los Angeles for eight years, particularly early in his career within collegiate athletics, the city is deeply embedded in his creative lens.
"This is about Black history, but it's also about this city," he shares. "LA is a living system, a grid of movement, culture, and stories that these players are very much a part of."
That personal connection made the opportunity to collaborate with the Rams especially meaningful. Returning to Los Angeles through this project felt like a full-circle moment, one rooted in both professional growth and personal history.
"It wasn't just about creating a campaign," Fletcher reflects. "It was about contributing to the visual language of a city and a team that played a role in my own creative foundation. To honor Black history through the lens of legacy, place, and progress in a city that shaped me made the work personal."
For Fletcher, design is never about distance or ceremony. It is about presence.
"I see design as a way to make history feel present, not distant," he says. "This opportunity allowed me to do that at scale, with intention, and with respect for the players who laid the groundwork."
