The Golden Arches were added to the McDonald’s restaurant name in 1962 to create the modern identity.
The arches had first appeared as architectural features on McDonald’s restaurants, where they helped buildings stand out from the roadside. In 1962, the arches were combined into a stylized logo associated with the McDonald’s name, turning an architectural detail into a powerful corporate symbol.
The design is often discussed alongside the restaurant buildings created by architect Stanley Clark Meston, but the logo’s development and the buildings’ architecture are not identical subjects. The arches’ transformation from physical structure to graphic mark was the crucial branding step.
The Golden Arches later became recognizable even without the full wordmark. This is why the symbol can identify McDonald’s independently of signs that spell out the company name.