The Graphic Design Program at AUE organizes the fifth (V) International Design Conference (IDC) and aims to explore the interaction and relationships between semiotics, visual metaphor and graphic design. Semiotics can provide a theoretical framework for understanding, constructing and extracting meaning in graphic design, as well as how meaning and signs work within social and cultural contexts. Under this scope, the current conference introduces semiotics in respect of graphic design education, its implementation in professional practice, visual communication theory and new technological developments. While visual metaphors in graphic design are constructed to attract attention, they often communicate messages with humor, shock, creativity and exaggeration. The conference will also present and analyse visual grammar structures in professional practice in different kinds of diagrams, including mind maps, concept maps and networks. Moreover, IDC will provide a conceptual platform on visual communication and the study of signs for designers, artists and visual communicators in general. The impact of semiotics on graphic design curricula / practice will be investigated to verify the adequacy of applying these theories to graphic design.