Jim Schindler combined McDonald’s two architectural arches into the single “M” logo.
Early McDonald’s buildings used two separate yellow arches as prominent architectural features. In 1962, designer Jim Schindler brought those forms together into a unified symbol that resembled the letter M. This change converted a recognizable building detail into a flexible corporate mark that could appear on signs, packaging, advertisements, and other materials.
Stanley Clark Meston is often named in the same story because he designed the original arches as architectural elements. Meston and Schindler therefore had different roles: Meston created the building feature, while Schindler developed the combined graphic emblem.
The unified mark helped McDonald’s maintain a consistent visual identity as franchised restaurants spread across the United States and into international markets. Although the logo has been adjusted in different periods and applications, the central idea of two arches forming an M remains one of the company’s most durable branding features.