Jim Schindler designed McDonald's 1962 redesign of the Golden Arches logo.
The Golden Arches began as architectural features on McDonald's restaurants, but the company gradually turned them into a standalone corporate mark. In 1962, company designer Jim Schindler combined the two arches into the stylized “M” associated with McDonald's branding.
This change is often mixed up with the work of architect Stanley Clark Meston. Meston designed the distinctive 1950s restaurant buildings that used separate yellow arches as architectural elements. Schindler's later contribution was graphic: he transformed that architectural idea into a unified logo.
The joined arches became one of the world's most recognizable commercial symbols. Although McDonald's has changed colors, typography, and visual systems over time, the central arch form has remained the key link between its restaurant architecture and its corporate identity.