Who designed the Golden Arches logo adopted by McDonald’s in the early 1960s?

Jim Schindler designed the Golden Arches logo adopted by McDonald’s in the early 1960s.

Schindler was an engineer and construction manager for McDonald’s who developed the design by combining the two golden arches used on the company’s restaurant buildings. The resulting form resembled an “M,” turning an architectural feature into a compact corporate symbol.

The logo is commonly associated with the 1962 redesign, when the arches were integrated into a recognizable visual mark. This is different from the earlier use of individual yellow arches as building elements, which had already helped customers identify McDonald’s restaurants.

Ray Kroc is often named in discussions of the logo because he led the company’s expansion, but he did not design it. Richard McDonald co-founded the original restaurant business, while Fred Turner later became a major McDonald’s executive.