The Golden Arches helped make McDonald’s branding visible to passing motorists during the 1950s.
Architect Stanley Clark Meston incorporated large yellow arches into the design of McDonald’s restaurants. Their height, color, and position at the sides of the building made them easy to notice from roads and highways. The arches therefore functioned as both architecture and an early form of visual advertising.
The arches were not initially designed as the familiar letter M. They were separate curved structures attached to the restaurant buildings. McDonald’s later combined their shapes into a corporate symbol, transforming a building feature into a logo recognized around the world.