Jim Schindler combined McDonald’s two arches into the familiar M-shaped logo in 1962.
The Golden Arches began as separate architectural features on McDonald’s restaurant buildings. Schindler, a company designer, joined the two curved forms visually so that they resembled the letter M. This transformed a building feature into a recognizable corporate symbol.
The logo’s development is often simplified into a single design event, but the arches had already been used on restaurant exteriors during the 1950s. The 1962 version made the symbol more portable for signs, packaging, advertising, and other brand applications.
Stanley Clark Meston is associated with the original architectural arches, while Schindler is associated with their combination into the logo. The company later modified the logo and removed accompanying wording in different periods, but the basic M-shaped arches remained central to McDonald’s identity.