The original McDonald's Golden Arches design was yellow.
The color was used on the large arches incorporated into the restaurant architecture during the 1950s. Bright yellow made the structures highly visible to passing motorists, especially when combined with the roadside orientation of McDonald's drive-in restaurants.
The arches later became a graphic logo, but their color remained central to the brand's identity. Red frequently appeared alongside yellow in McDonald's signs and packaging, which can lead people to remember the arches themselves as red. In the classic color pairing, however, the arches are yellow and the surrounding field is often red.
Color was only one part of the original branding system. The architectural form, roadside placement, and repeated use across locations all helped make the arches recognizable before the symbol became a global corporate mark.