McDonald's adopted the recognizable Golden Arches logo as a stylized letter M in 1962.
Before 1962, the arches primarily functioned as architectural features on McDonald's restaurant buildings. Their visual impact helped motorists identify the restaurants, but the two arches had not yet become the unified corporate symbol known worldwide.
Designer Jim Schindler merged the separate arches into a single golden M in 1962. The design converted a practical building feature into a simple, reproducible mark that could appear on signs, packaging, advertisements, and other branded materials.
The year is sometimes confused with 1955, when Ray Kroc opened the McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, and with 1968, when the Big Mac was introduced nationally. Those milestones belong to different parts of McDonald's history. The Golden Arches logo marked a crucial shift from restaurant architecture to modern corporate branding.