Who created McDonald’s familiar connected-arches logo in 1962?

Jim Schindler created McDonald’s familiar connected-arches logo in 1962.

The logo developed from the large yellow arches used on McDonald’s restaurant buildings. Schindler combined the two arches into a stylized form resembling the letter M, turning an architectural feature into a compact corporate mark.

This change mattered because a logo could appear consistently on packaging, signs, advertising, uniforms, and other materials, unlike the full restaurant structure. The Golden Arches therefore became both a literal reference to McDonald’s buildings and a widely recognizable brand emblem.

People sometimes credit Ray Kroc with designing the symbol because he expanded McDonald’s nationally, but Kroc was the company’s major business and franchising figure, not the logo’s credited designer. Stanley Meston designed the earlier arches themselves.