McDonald’s famous yellow logo elements are called the Golden Arches.
Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed two large yellow arches for the McDonald brothers’ redesigned restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1952. The arches were architectural features intended to make the building visible to passing motorists, not merely a printed logo.
The arches later became a recognizable symbol of the McDonald’s brand. In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the two side-view arches into the familiar stylized “M” used in corporate identity. This change helped turn a restaurant feature into a global trademark.
A common mix-up is treating the Golden Arches and the modern “M” as two unrelated symbols. The “M” is a graphic interpretation of the arches, while the original arches were physical structures attached to restaurants. Their visual history is central to McDonald’s branding because it connects architecture, roadside visibility, and corporate identity.