Nothing Runs Like A…

From the files of my dissertation, Tower Typewriter and Trademark, a note about Deere & Company’s foray into the consumer market. Lawn tractors proved popular, but the attempt to ape Detroit’s something-for-everyone approach was as ill-fated as Ken Cosgrove’s decision to bring one to the Sterling Cooper office on Episode 6 of Mad Men.

The company colors were one element [industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss] and his team never questioned, feeling that John Deere green (on which the company had a patent) was a more potent symbol than their leaping deer trademark. The only time other colors were used was in the newly-organized lawn and garden tractor division. Launched in the early 1960s, the consumer products in this division were styled to look like miniatures of the agricultural tractors. In their second year, Dreyfuss suggested Deere follow the automotive industry and offer a variety of colors in hoods and seats. Spruce blue, sunshine yellow, plus orange, red, and white were offered for a year, then dropped. Everyone wanted their John Deere lawn tractor in green.

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By Alexandra Lange

Alexandra Lange is an architecture critic and author, and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for Criticism, awarded for her work as a contributing writer for Bloomberg CityLab. She is currently the architecture critic for Curbed and has written extensively for Design Observer, Architect, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. Lange holds a PhD in 20th-century architecture history from New York University. Her writing often explores the intersection of architecture, urban planning, and design, with a focus on how the built environment shapes everyday life. She is also a recipient of the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary from AIGA, an honor she shares with Design Observer’s Editor-in-Chief, Ellen McGirt.