CINCINNATI — You may have passed the giant LED sign spelling out "Cincinnati" on your morning commute and wondered "Why is it that color?"
We went looking for answers and for the people who make the flashy color combinations possible.
Chief Engineer Mike Scott is the mastermind behind many of the sign's most memorable combinations - including the displays for BLINK and Cincinnati Beerfest.
“We have 352 points that we can actually control, " Scott said. He's responsible for all of the Duke Energy Convention Center, but one of the highlights of this high-powered gig is programming the sign.
“Some people think it’s cool. My family thinks it’s cool," he said.
The 320 foot wide, 50 foot high fixture was constructed on the western facade of the convention center during the expansion in 2006.
Regional Marketing Director Michelle Hopewell is proud of how the Cincinnati Icon has been used to celebrate the things that make the city light up.
“We take pride in our city," she said. "We support from the Reds to the Bengals to FC Cincy, the Flying Pig."
Since it first illuminated the skyline and smiling faces, Hopewell says it’s been able to change color, but doing so hasn’t always been easy. In fact, it used to be quite the ordeal.
“In 2006, when the sign originated, it was white lights and if we wanted to change the colors, it was shutting down streets, additional logistics, and colored gels to put on top of the panels to make it whatever colors we were looking to change," she said.
There are now LED lights capable of 16.7 million combinations.
“I really liked when we did BLINK in 2019 because that was one of these we weren’t really going to do anything with it then all of a sudden we got ‘We really need to do something for BLINK. Can you have something up tonight? And we did," Scott said with a laugh.
But outside of the big events most of us are familiar with, how do you know what the sign’s color stands for? Well, the convention center sometimes posts about it on Instagram or you can check its online calendar, but the sign’s daily story is sometimes a bit of a mystery on purpose.
“There are those causes and some people don’t know and then the whole point is to help generate awareness so when we do get requests we usually ask them to tag us on social, use the hashtag #CincinnatiIcon.”
Scott and Hopewell don’t know what this sign will look like 60 days or six years from now. But the spontaneous aspect of the job is as bright as the Cincinnati Icon itself.
“I think the best thing we do is the next thing,” Scott said.
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