Who designed McDonald's stylized Golden Arches logo as a single letter-like mark?

Jim Schindler designed McDonald's stylized Golden Arches logo as a single letter-like mark.

Schindler's 1962 design joined the two yellow arches into a compact graphic resembling a capital M. That change helped McDonald's use the arches consistently beyond the physical architecture of its restaurants.

Before Schindler's logo, the arches functioned mainly as prominent parts of restaurant façades. The redesign converted an architectural feature into a portable corporate identity that could appear on signs, packaging, advertisements, uniforms, and printed materials.

The designer is sometimes confused with Stanley Clark Meston, the architect associated with the early arch-front buildings. Meston created the architectural concept, while Schindler created the later unified logo. Ray Kroc, meanwhile, was the businessman who drove McDonald's major expansion, not the designer of the mark.