Which symbol became McDonald's best-known logo after its 1962 redesign?

The symbol that became McDonald's best-known logo after its 1962 redesign was the Golden Arches.

The arches began as architectural features on McDonald's restaurant buildings rather than as a purely graphic invention. Early locations used two large yellow arches, one at each side of the building, to make restaurants visible from the road.

In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the two arches into the familiar M-shaped mark. The design helped turn a building feature into a portable corporate identity that could appear on signs, packaging, advertisements, and products around the world.

The Golden Arches are often mistaken for a symbol that existed unchanged from McDonald's opening in 1940. In fact, the arches developed during the chain's expansion in the 1950s, and the famous unified logo came later.