Who designed the original McDonald’s Golden Arches?

Stanley Clark Meston designed the original McDonald’s Golden Arches.

Meston was an architect hired to create the design for the McDonald brothers’ new restaurant building in San Bernardino, California. The restaurant opened in 1953 with large yellow arches incorporated into its structure, making the building visible from a distance.

The arches were originally architectural features rather than the standalone corporate logo used today. Their shape was influenced partly by the restaurant’s roadside setting and by the desire to create a distinctive, recognizable exterior.

McDonald’s later transformed the two arches into the familiar “M” symbol. That change made the arches more portable as a brand mark, separating the identity from the physical restaurant design. The result became one of the world’s most recognizable corporate symbols.