Which McDonald's logo element gave the Golden Arches their familiar letter-M shape?

Two restaurant arches gave the Golden Arches their familiar letter-M shape.

McDonald's early restaurants used tall yellow arches as prominent architectural features. When the company developed its corporate logo, designer Jim Schindler combined the two arches into a single symmetrical mark that resembled the letter M.

This transformation helped McDonald's move from a building-specific design to a portable brand symbol. The combined arches could appear on roadside signs, food packaging, printed advertising, and later digital media without requiring a drawing of an entire restaurant.

The mark is sometimes described as simply a stylized letter M, but its historical meaning is more specific. It is an M formed from two separate golden arches associated with McDonald's restaurant architecture. That connection explains both the logo's name and its distinctive shape.