When College of Nursing sophomore Megan Johnson stopped by the Alumni Memorial Union Wednesday to look at the new designs of the Golden Eagle mascot, she liked what she saw.

"I think he looks meaner," Johnson said about the new designs. "I think it looks better" than the current design.

Meaner is exactly what designer Eric Rickabaugh said he was aiming for.

Rickabaugh, owner and creative director of Rickabaugh Graphics, the Gahanna, Ohio-based design group responsible for reinventing Marquette's logo and mascot, said "the main thing is to make (the mascot) more intimidating, and yet still kid-friendly."

Rickabaugh was on campus Wednesday in the Alumni Memorial Union to take feedback and answer questions about the two proposed options for a new Golden Eagle mascot.

Research and focus groups showed "people weren't totally satisfied" with the existing mascot costume, Rickabaugh said.

The two designs currently under consideration faired best in focus groups, said Rickabaugh, whose company has designed more than 100 collegiate images.

Rickabaugh said it is important to understand the Golden Eagle sketches are for the mascot costume, not the logo.

The group was hired a year and a half ago to revamp the logo and mascot. However, last year's nickname debate brought that process to a standstill, Rickabaugh said.

"We've kind of been just watching from the background for the first year," Rickabaugh said.

Rickabaugh Graphics also designed the new MU logo, which Rickabaugh described as an effort to rally the Marquette community together.

"It's about 'we are Marquette,not Golden Eagles vs. Warriors," he said.

About 20 people, mostly students, visited Rickabaugh during the five hours he was at the union to see the new mascot designs, Rickabaugh said.

He said reactions were largely positive.

College of Health Sciences freshman Janice Borowksi was among those who came to the union to see the new designs.

"It's definitely a little bit tougher," said Borowski, who added she grew up on the old mascot as a longtime Milwaukee resident.

Jen Leonard, a College of Engineeing senior, said the new designs looked "less ragged."

"The old one was peppy, but (the new design) looks fiercer," she said.

Students quickly took note of some of the mascot's new features.

"So, he's not going to wear basketball shoes anymore?" asked College of Nursing sophomore Maggie Williams, noting the Golden Eagle's shoeless talons.

Studies and focus groups showed the shoes should definitely be eliminated, Rickabaugh said.

A fiercer Golden Eagle was the main idea behind the new mascots, Rickabaugh said.

"Students seem real happy that we've toughened him up a little bit, and that he looks a little bit more like an eagle."

However, College of Arts & Science freshman Adam Ziebell said the fiercer of the two options didn't work for him.

"The angry one just didn't look good," Ziebell. "It's like they're trying too hard to make him look pissed off."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 1, 2005.