Who is credited with designing McDonald's 1962 Golden Arches logo?

Jim Schindler is credited with designing McDonald's 1962 Golden Arches logo.

Schindler worked for McDonald's and developed the logo from the paired arches that had appeared in the architecture of earlier restaurants. By linking the forms into an “M,” the design made the arches useful as a corporate identity independent of any individual building.

This attribution is different from the people connected with the earlier restaurants. Richard and Maurice McDonald founded the original restaurant business, while Ray Kroc expanded McDonald's through franchising. Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the Speedee Service System restaurant buildings that helped popularize the arches as a visual feature, but he is not generally credited with the 1962 logo itself.

The distinction matters because “the Golden Arches” can refer either to the physical arches on early buildings or to the later graphic trademark. Schindler's work concerns the graphic identity.