McDonald's adopted the Golden Arches as its main logo in 1962, replacing the earlier Speedee-centered branding.
Speedee was a small chef character used by McDonald's before the Golden Arches became the company's dominant visual symbol. In 1962, designer Jim Schindler created a logo based on the restaurant's two architectural arches, joining them into a stylized “M.”
The change reflected a shift from branding the company around a service mascot to branding it around a distinctive architectural and letterform symbol. The arches were already associated with McDonald's restaurants, so the logo made that association portable across signs, packaging, and advertising.
The date can be confused with 1955, when McDonald's Corporation was established, or 1948, when the McDonald brothers reorganized their restaurant around a simplified service system. Those events shaped the business, but 1962 marks the key Golden Arches logo transition.