Who reshaped McDonald’s two Golden Arches into the M-shaped logo used from 1962?

Jim Schindler reshaped McDonald’s two Golden Arches into the M-shaped logo used from 1962.

The Golden Arches began as architectural elements on McDonald’s restaurant buildings. As the company grew, its visual identity needed a simpler symbol that could work on packaging, signs, advertisements, and corporate materials. Schindler combined the separate arch forms into a stylized letter M, creating the basis of the modern logo.

The logo’s design history is therefore different from the buildings’ architectural history. Stanley Clark Meston designed the original arches as part of restaurant exteriors, whereas Schindler adapted them into a single graphic mark. The resulting symbol preserved the arches’ recognizable shape while making it more useful as a compact brand identifier.

Later versions changed details such as outlines, colors, and accompanying lettering, but the central arch-based M remained. The familiar nickname “Golden Arches” refers both to the building elements and, by extension, to the logo derived from them.