Who designed the Golden Arches used in McDonald’s early restaurant architecture?

Stanley Clark Meston designed the Golden Arches used in McDonald’s early restaurant architecture.

Meston was an architect who worked with sign designer George Dexter to develop the distinctive arches for McDonald’s restaurants in the 1950s. The arches were originally physical architectural elements at the sides of restaurant buildings, rather than merely a flat logo.

The design reflected the roadside architecture of the period. Richard and Maurice McDonald wanted a building that could be recognized quickly by motorists, and the large yellow arches helped create that visual identity. Their shape also echoed the restaurant’s distinctive roofline and exterior layout.

The Golden Arches later became a standalone corporate symbol. Jim Schindler is associated with the later refinement of the arches into the familiar intersecting logo, but he did not design the original architectural arches. Ray Kroc, meanwhile, expanded the franchise system but was not the architect behind them.