In McDonald's branding history, who designed the original Golden Arches for the 1950s restaurant buildings?

Stanley Clark Meston designed the original Golden Arches for McDonald’s 1950s restaurant buildings.

Meston was an architect working with McDonald’s in California when the company developed a distinctive new restaurant design. The buildings used two large yellow arches positioned at opposite sides of the structure, making the restaurants visible from the road.

The arches were architectural features before they became the company’s best-known graphic symbol. Their bold shape helped McDonald’s stand out in the growing roadside restaurant market, especially at a time when car travel and drive-in dining were expanding.

A common mix-up is crediting Ray Kroc with designing the arches. Kroc helped expand McDonald’s nationally, but Meston created the architectural concept. The later logo simplified the arches into a recognizable corporate mark.