What name is given to McDonald’s famous yellow arch symbols?

McDonald’s famous yellow arch symbols are called the Golden Arches.

The arches began as architectural features rather than as a standalone corporate logo. Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed two large yellow arches for the McDonald’s restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1953. They were visible from the road and helped the restaurant attract passing motorists.

As McDonald’s expanded, the arches became one of the most recognizable elements of its visual identity. In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the two arches into the stylized M-shaped symbol associated with the company today.

A common mix-up is assuming the Golden Arches began as a purely graphic logo. Their original purpose was practical: they were large, eye-catching parts of the restaurant building. The symbol later became more important than the architecture itself and continued to appear in signs, packaging, advertising, and digital branding.