Office for Industrial Design, Berlin [Amt für industrielle Formgestaltung AiF]

From 1972 onwards, the Amt für industrielle Formgestaltung AiF (Office for Industrial Design) was the GDR’s state institution whose central task was to promote design—with a focus on product design and the design of the working world. Its history, including its predecessors—amongst them the Central Institute of Design—, begins in 1952 and ends in 1990.
From 1979 onwards, the AiF awarded three prizes annually: the GDR Design Prize for deserving designers, the Design Sponsorship Prize for young designers and the state recognition of GOOD DESIGN for products. The common denominator was ‘design quality’ in theory, practice, teaching, management and planning. A jury chaired by AiF Director Martin Kelm (b. 1930) chose the motif of interlocking discs as the overarching symbol for all plaques, medals and graphic applications—designed by Dietrich Otte (b. 1939) based on the model of a sculpture by the constructivist sculptor and graphic artist Hermann Glöckner (1889–1987).