Which McDonald's branding symbol was redesigned into the modern Golden Arches logo in 1962?

The restaurant's architectural arches were redesigned into the modern Golden Arches logo in 1962.

McDonald's early restaurants used large yellow arches as architectural features on the building. They were intended to attract motorists and make the restaurants easy to recognize from a distance. As the company expanded, the arches became more useful as a graphic symbol than as purely structural decoration.

In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the two arches into the stylized “M” logo associated with McDonald's. The design transformed a three-dimensional restaurant feature into a portable brand mark that could appear on signs, packaging, uniforms, and advertising.

This history is distinct from the original architectural design. Stanley Clark Meston designed the arches for the restaurant building, while Schindler created the 1962 logo adaptation. Ray Kroc is often credited broadly with McDonald's growth, but he was not the designer who converted the architectural arches into the familiar logo.