McDonald’s introduced the Golden Arches logo in 1962 as its recognizable corporate mark.
The design grew from the physical arches used on McDonald’s restaurant buildings. Architect Stanley Clark Meston created the original architectural arches for the company’s drive-ins in the 1950s. Their bright yellow color helped restaurants stand out beside roads and highways.
In 1962, graphic designer Jim Schindler combined the two arches into a stylized “M.” The mark gradually became more important than the restaurant’s accompanying wordmark, eventually becoming one of the world’s most recognizable corporate symbols.
A common mix-up is treating the building arches and the later logo as the same design event. The arches appeared on restaurants before the combined logo was created. McDonald’s later simplified its branding further, including periods when the standalone arches appeared without the company name.