The arches in McDonald's first widely recognized Golden Arches logo were yellow.
Yellow made the arches highly visible and gave the symbol a warm, energetic appearance. The color also connected the logo to the physical golden arches that had stood outside many McDonald's restaurants, allowing the corporate mark to preserve an important piece of the chain's architectural heritage.
The familiar logo is often shown with yellow arches against a red field, but the arches themselves are the key answer. Later applications used different backgrounds and sometimes adapted the logo for monochrome or limited-color printing.
The word “golden” refers to the arches' yellow-gold appearance rather than requiring a metallic finish. The mark's color, shape, and association with restaurant signs helped make it recognizable even when the McDonald's name was omitted.