Methods and systems are described which relate to the assistance or guidance of a user in the detection of an element in an area. A search assistant for searching for an element in an area may include a direction changer for changing the direction of emission of a visible signal on the basis of detected relative data of an element sought in the area, the relative data detected by at least one sensor such as an audio sensor or a video sensor. Such a search assistant may use a simple visible signal for guidance toward the element sought in the area. The technology used may be easy to implement, cheap and readily accessible, allowing guidance precision that depends solely on the precision of the known or detected location of the sought object.