Stanley Meston designed the original Golden Arches as architectural features for McDonald’s 1953 restaurant.
Meston worked with the McDonald brothers and their business partner to create a restaurant that would stand out to passing motorists. The arches were tall, bright yellow structures placed at the sides of the building, making the restaurant visible from a distance.
The architectural arches came before the familiar unified logo. In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the two arches into a stylized M. This distinction explains why sources credit Meston with the original physical arches and Schindler with the later graphic logo.
The design was more than decoration. Roadside visibility was central to early drive-in and car-oriented restaurant culture, so the arches functioned as a recognizable landmark. Their shape and color eventually became one of the most identifiable visual marks in commercial history.