Exploration with a generative formalism must necessarily account for
the nature of interaction between humans and the design space explorer.
Established accounts of design interaction are made complicated by two
propositions in Woodbury and Burrow's Keynote on design space
exploration. First, the emphasis on the primacy of the design space as an
ordered collection of partial designs (version, alternatives, extensions).
Few studies exist in the design interaction literature on working with
multiple threads simultaneously. Second, the need to situate, aid, and
amplify human design intentions using computational tools. Although
specific research and practice tools on amplification (sketching,
generation, variation) have had success, there is a lack of generic,
flexible, interoperable, and extensible representation to support
amplification. This paper addresses the above, working with design threads
and computer-assisted design amplification through a theoretical model of
dialogue based on Grice's model of rational conversation. Using the
concept of mixed initiative, the paper presents a visual notation for
representing dialogue between designer and design space formalism through
abstract examples of exploration tasks and dialogue integration.