What symbol replaced Speedee as McDonald’s main logo in the early 1960s?

The Golden Arches replaced Speedee as McDonald’s main logo in the early 1960s.

The arches began as architectural features of McDonald’s restaurants. Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the restaurant buildings with two large yellow arches, which were visible from the roadside and helped distinguish the locations.

In 1962, company designer Jim Schindler combined the arches into the stylized “M” associated with McDonald’s. The logo transformed an architectural feature into a compact corporate mark that worked on signs, packaging, uniforms, and advertising.

People sometimes use “Golden Arches” to mean only the physical arches on a restaurant. In branding history, however, the phrase also refers to the merged arch symbol that became McDonald’s corporate identity.