Jim Schindler created the modern golden “M” in 1962 by combining McDonald’s two arches into a logo.
The arches originally belonged to restaurant architecture, where they helped make McDonald’s buildings visible from the road. Schindler adapted those physical forms into a compact graphic mark, placing the arches together so they read as a distinctive letter-like symbol.
This transformation made the arches useful far beyond the restaurant façade. The mark could appear on signs, packaging, advertisements, uniforms, and printed materials while still recalling the company’s buildings.
Stanley Clark Meston is often named in discussions of the arches because he designed the influential 1950s restaurant structures. Meston’s work supplied the architectural source, while Schindler is credited with the 1962 logo treatment that became the familiar Golden Arches symbol.