Who designed McDonald's modern overlapping yellow “M” logo in 1962?

Jim Schindler designed McDonald's modern overlapping yellow “M” logo in 1962.

Schindler was an engineer and designer working for McDonald's, and he adapted the restaurant chain's existing architectural arches into a compact graphic mark. The result joined two arches into the familiar golden “M” used in corporate identity and restaurant signage.

The logo drew on work associated with the earlier restaurant buildings, especially the tall yellow arches designed for McDonald's sites. Its importance was that it transformed a building feature into a simple symbol that could work on signs, packaging, uniforms, and advertisements.

People often credit Ray Kroc with the logo because he built McDonald's into a major chain, but Kroc was the company's leading business executive rather than the designer of this specific mark. Stanley Meston designed the original arch buildings, not the 1962 logo.