Which designer created the McDonald's Golden Arches as architectural features for its restaurants?

Architect Stanley Clark Meston created the McDonald's Golden Arches as architectural features for its restaurants.

Meston worked with McDonald's to develop a building design that would stand out beside roads and attract drivers. The arches were large, curved, yellow elements placed at the sides of the restaurant structure, making them visible from a distance.

The design was more than decoration. It functioned as roadside identification before the modern logo system was fully standardized. Over time, the two separate arches were combined visually into the familiar “M” associated with McDonald's.

Meston is sometimes confused with Jim Schindler, who is credited with developing the later 1962 logo treatment that turned the arches into a more unified graphic symbol. Ray Kroc was the businessman who expanded McDonald's nationally, while Richard McDonald co-founded the original restaurant business; neither designed the architectural arches.