Stanley Meston designed the Golden Arches for McDonald's standardized restaurant buildings in 1952.
Meston was an architect based in Southern California who worked with McDonald's operators Richard and Maurice McDonald on the restaurant's visual identity. The brothers wanted a building that could be recognized quickly by passing motorists. Meston's design used two large yellow arches on opposite sides of the building, making the structure visible from the road and giving it a distinctive silhouette.
The arches were originally architectural features rather than a standalone corporate logo. They framed the restaurant and helped distinguish McDonald's from other roadside drive-ins. In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the arches into the familiar M-shaped symbol, a separate step in the evolution of the brand.
A common mix-up is crediting Ray Kroc with designing the arches. Kroc expanded McDonald's nationally, but Meston created the original architectural concept and Schindler later adapted it into a logo.