The original Golden Arches at McDonald's restaurants were yellow.
The arches were designed as prominent architectural elements for McDonald's early drive-in restaurants. Their bright yellow color helped them stand out against the roadside environment and made the buildings recognizable to passing motorists, especially at night when the arches were illuminated.
Architect Stanley Meston designed the early arches in the 1950s. The paired structures appeared on opposite sides of the restaurant roofline and were later combined into the stylized single-arch logo associated with McDonald's.
The word “Golden” refers to the arches' yellow-gold appearance, not to a change from another original corporate color. Red was later used extensively in McDonald's signs, packaging, and restaurant interiors, which is why some people remember the red-and-yellow combination more strongly than the arches alone.