The paper discusses the requirements of the engineering designer during the higher, conceptual levels of the design process in terms of search within initial predefined design spaces and subsequent exploration of transformed design spaces. Such transformation is based upon information gathered from initial search using evolutionary techniques that rapidly identify high-performance regions of complex design spaces. It is proposed that off-line processing of such information and associated design team discussion in an iterative designer/evolutionary search procedure can strengthen the knowledge base relating to the problem at hand and initiate significant change in the design environment. Research relating to appropriate evolutionary search and exploratory procedures is described and illustrated with results from simple test functions and real-world design problems. These results support discussion related to the manner in which the techniques may best support innovative and creative design activity in an interactive design team/evolutionary search environment.