The two curved arches in McDonald’s early restaurant design became known as the Golden Arches.
Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the distinctive restaurant building used by McDonald’s in the 1950s. The building included large yellow arches at either side, making the restaurant visible from the road and giving it a memorable architectural identity. The arches were originally functional and decorative parts of the building rather than a standalone corporate logo.
As McDonald’s restaurants changed shape, the physical arches became less important as architecture. Their outline was eventually combined into a stylized symbol that became the company’s famous logo. The design is often called the “Golden Arches” because of its gold or yellow color and its resemblance to a pair of arches.
The term is sometimes incorrectly treated as the name of the company’s first mascot or slogan. It refers specifically to the architectural and logo symbol, which became one of the world’s most recognizable examples of corporate branding.