A key difference between designers is the ability to find answers with minimal impact on the workflow or thought process.

Today, knowledge is no longer challenged by the research of information but by the sorting and relevancy of found data. With extensive information at keyboard range, walking into a library is now an oddity. In fact, nothing prevents someone from learning an application from scratch, and to a good level at that. So what stops creatives from reaching such levels of proficiency? Either laziness… or lack of a methodology of search.

Rather than preaching, I will tell you what I do when I need information quickly.

• F1: it’s one click away from your fingertips, and yet it’s one of the most underrated features of any application. I have learned a few tricks in Photoshop this way. Just try it out!
• search engines: we all have our preferences, I use webcrawler as meta search engine: it runs your search at all major search engines and presents it as a simple list. A couple of keywords set you on track (example: “json call”)
• vendor website: are you struggling with a Microsoft product? Run your search on their website, you will probably end at the msdn website, a comprehensive library of information geared at developers but useful for designers too. I used to go to Adobe, but since their basic help turned online, there is no longer need for it, making F1 even more useful
• online social bookmarking: if I just need a refresher for an uncommon task, chances are I have performed this search before and saved it in my online favorites. The more people encountered this problem and saved it, the easier it is to find it back! I use delicious
• as last resort, if I need specific information on an obscure css selector, I go to the W3C directly and browse the obnoxious but complete standard reference

What I don’t do is ask a fellow designer. I tend to memorize what I look for myself rather than what I ask.

Perhaps you have other ways? You may want to share those in the comments.

About the author  Hector Fabio Hurtado, also known as Hiddenson, is an independent art director and graphic creative. read other posts from this author