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

Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the Golden Arches used in McDonald’s first distinctive restaurant architecture.

Meston worked with sign-maker George Dexter on the restaurant design commissioned by Richard and Maurice McDonald. The brothers wanted a highly visible building that could attract motorists and make the restaurant recognizable from the road.

The resulting 1950s design used two large yellow arches on opposite sides of the building. A roofline sign and streamlined shapes made the restaurant stand out in the automobile-oriented Southern California landscape. The arches were architectural features before they became the company’s corporate symbol.

McDonald’s later simplified the arches into the familiar “M” logo. This means Meston is associated with the original architectural arches, while Jim Schindler is associated with the later logo design. The two contributions are related but not identical.