Which McDonald's logo symbol was added to the company logo in 1962 by designer Jim Schindler?

Jim Schindler added the Golden Arches to McDonald's logo design in 1962.

The arches originated as physical features of McDonald's restaurant buildings, where they acted as large roadside identifiers. Schindler adapted that architectural idea into a graphic symbol for the company's corporate identity. The early version used the arches with a line through them, evoking the shape of the restaurant structures.

This change helped McDonald's move from a collection of recognizable buildings toward a unified visual brand. A logo could travel on signs, cups, wrappers, advertisements, and other materials even when a restaurant's architecture varied.

The logo's history has several dates that are easy to mix up. Stanley Meston designed the original architectural arches in 1952, while Schindler developed the graphic logo in 1962. The familiar overlapping M was introduced later, in 1968, but all versions derive from the Golden Arches idea.