Which McDonald’s brand mark did Jim Schindler combine from the two arches in 1962?

Jim Schindler combined the two architectural arches into the Golden Arches logo in 1962.

The original McDonald’s buildings used two separate arches, one at each side of the roofline. Schindler’s graphic solution joined their visual forms into an “M”-like symbol that could work independently of a restaurant building. This made the arches much more useful as a compact corporate mark.

The logo’s shape was inspired by architecture, but it was not simply a drawing of one building. It transformed a three-dimensional roadside feature into a reproducible graphic for signs, packaging, advertisements, and corporate communications. The resulting mark became one of the most recognizable symbols in global commerce.

The Golden Arches name describes the symbol’s origin and appearance. It should not be confused with Speedee, the earlier mascot and service-system emblem, or with the McDonald’s wordmark, which spells out the company name. The arches could eventually identify the brand even when no words appeared beside them.