The 1968 logo was McDonald's first logo to feature the company name beneath the Golden Arches.
The design placed the words “McDonald's” under the stylized golden M, creating a combined symbol-and-wordmark lockup. This made the brand name readable even when viewers were unfamiliar with the arches alone, an important advantage as the company expanded across markets.
The logo belongs to the period when McDonald's was moving from distinctive restaurant architecture toward a standardized corporate identity. The arches had already been used as physical building elements and had become a logo in 1962, but the 1968 version added a clear textual identifier beneath them.
Later versions changed the proportions, lettering, and surrounding shapes. Those refinements can make historical logo dates confusing. The key distinction is that 1962 introduced the M-shaped arches logo, while 1968 added the McDonald's name below it.