The two yellow parabolic shapes in McDonald's branding are commonly called the Golden Arches.
The arches originated in the architecture of McDonald's early restaurants. The original buildings used large yellow arches at opposite sides of the structure, making the restaurants visible from the road and giving them a distinctive roadside identity.
In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the two architectural forms into the familiar stylized “M” logo. The mark later became more important than the building design itself and was used on signs, packaging, uniforms, advertising, and restaurant façades around the world.
The Golden Arches are sometimes mistaken for a letter created independently of the restaurant buildings. Their history is architectural first and graphic second: the logo transformed a physical feature of early McDonald's restaurants into one of the world's most recognizable corporate symbols.