There's a new bird on campus

UNT community members may notice a new face around campus this fall. And we aren't talking about incoming freshmen, new faculty or staff members, or even UNT's new chancellor.

No, the new face belongs to UNT's signature eagle, Scrappy. The creative department of University Communications and Marketing began working with the athletics department on a new look for the eagle in May. The goal was to create a character — a marketable design that would be appealing across all demographics.

The new image depicts Scrappy in motion as a green eagle with a white head, green eyes and a snarling beak. Scrappy's talons grasp the moniker "Mean Green."

"We did a lot of research and spent a lot of time studying other major college spirit markers," says Todd Lancaster, university creative director. "There are exciting things happening in UNT athletics, and we want to reflect that in a new look. We wanted a character that was aggressive and had some human-like qualities and that also showed movement. We also needed a design that would distinguish UNT's eagle from all the other eagle mascots. The Mean Green name is unique, so we needed to tie the eagle to that concept — the new Scrappy is mean, and he is green."

Laura Watkins, athletics director of marketing, says the new Scrappy spirit marker does not replace any of the existing wordmarks, logos or spirit markers. It simply gives people another option to use to promote UNT.

"The new Scrappy is primarily for merchandising," Watkins says. "It won't be replacing the athletics icons or be used on official letterhead or business cards. But it does give people the choice to use Scrappy for merchandising or promotions."

UNT community members should continue to refer to the style manual (www.unt.edu/styleguide) before designing materials that include the new Scrappy spirit marker or any other UNT wordmark or logo.

The spirit markers will be available for downloading at www.unt.edu/images.

BY MICHELLE HALE mhale@unt.edu

Other web resources

• UNT Style guide
• UNT spirit markers, wordmarks and logos

Other featured articles in this issue

• Regents confirm Lee Jackson as new UNT System chancellor
• Summer graduation is Aug. 10
• About the commencement speaker
• Mean Green Village to return to practice field for Homecoming 2002
• UNT enters agreement with Mexican university
• 2002 Summer II enrollment climbs 8.5 percent over 2001
• UNT professor works to predict a fire's probable pathway
• UNT group ranks among the world's best computer security teams

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