Their infamous "M" logo is known all over the world, and people believe there would be some deep and insightful meaning behind this simple yet successful design.
To make things clear, the Golden Arches' origin were pure and simple: to be noticed from afar.
In 1952, Richard and Maurice McDonald first decided they needed a new and eye-catching building to house their famous and efficient burgers in San Bernardino, California. Stanley Clark Meston, an architect was chosen among other three.
The brothers offered their initial rough sketch of two half-circles, since the image of an arch strikes Richard as a memorable shape to make their restaurant more visible. So, Meston responded with a design consisting of 2 (7.6 m tall) yellow metal-sheets arches trimmed in neon, called "Golden Arches". Initially, his design consisted of another smaller arch at the roadside with a pudgy character in a chef's hat, named "Speedee".
In 1962, seeking to upgrade their company's image, they sought for a new logo. Fred Turner sketched a stylised "V", but the company's head of engineering and design, Jim Schindler extended the "V" into an "M", resembling their restaurant when viewed from a certain angle. Their red, isosceles trapezoid roof served as a good contrast background for the lettering.
Alan Hess summarised the ultimate significance of the Golden Arches as follows:
"The arch was conceived by business man Richard McDonald, an untrained designer with no knowledge of erudite architechtural examples. His intent was pragmatic: to be noticed. This determined its scale, position and simple shape visible over long distances following the precedent of earlier drive-ins with which he was familiar. To McDonald, the arch was an arbitrary form, without symbolic or historic associations, which he hoped would come to symbolise McDonald's. The arch's position implies no traditional use of the arch as an entry, nor are they structural...Meston's design proved to be successful as design and icon because of, not in spite of, its commercialism."
