From Pre-Shopping to Checkout: A Taskscape View of Low-Vision Customer Needs

Shopping malls are still a major destination for leisure and everyday purchases, yet their layout, lighting, signage and payment systems are mostly created for people with perfect eyesight. The article “Do You See What I See? The shopping experiences of people with visual impairment” by Sandra Tullio-Pow, Hong Yu and Megan Strickfaden (Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, 2021) offers a clear, evidence-based picture of where those designs fall short and how they can improve. The authors followed seven adults with low vision on real shopping trips, combining observation, photographs and post-trip interviews. Their lens taskscape theory—breaks one complex activity (“going shopping”) into a chain of smaller, goal-oriented tasks.

The “Shopping Taskscape” in Seven Steps

Phase	What the shoppers did	Typical barriers observed
1. Pre-shopping	Checked websites for store locations, stock and prices	Construction updates and stock information often missing online ​
2. Travelling to the mall	Planned bus or subway routes, asked drivers for stop info	Small route numbers, mixed alpha-numeric bus signs, confusing station stairs
3. Mall navigation	Headed first to the information desk; sometimes asked for an escort	Information desk buried in the centre, poor lighting, staff unfamiliar with guiding etiquette
4. In-store navigation	Located the entrance, assessed floor layout and lighting	Glass façades, mirrors and glossy dark walls distort depth; aisles cluttered with promo stands
5. Merchandise evaluation	Read price, size and care labels, compared items, found fitting room	Low-contrast labels, tiny fonts, unclear price scanners, staff mistaking magnifiers for cameras ​
6. Checkout	Joined the queue, paid cash or card, asked for change verification	Touch-screen card readers with no tactile keys; unclear start of queues; faded receipts ​
7. Post-shopping	Ate in the food court, scanned receipts at home, matched statements	Back-lit menu boards unreadable; thermal-print receipts hard to scan or store

Design Lessons Retailers Can Act On

Signage: High contrast first

• Use sans-serif fonts (e.g., Helvetica) at 16 pt or larger for price tags, shelf labels and staff name badges.

• Place directional signs overhead rather than at eye level; ceiling signs were the easiest for participants to find.

Lighting: Illuminate, don’t dazzle

• Avoid shiny metal signs and mirrored walls that throw glare.

• Provide even, diffused lighting over mannequins and scanning stations so hand-held magnifiers work properly. ​

Flooring: Let feet confirm what eyes can’t

• Deliberately contrast aisle surfaces (e.g., tile) with display zones (e.g., carpet or wood) to create tactile borders that guide movement. ​

People: Train for audible, not gestural, help

• Teach escorts and sales staff to offer an elbow and to describe landmarks aloud instead of pointing.

• Encourage associates to count change back and to announce each card-reader step for touch-screens. ​

Technology: Independence, not suspicion

• Position at least one tactile-keypad card reader at every till.

• Make price scanners plentiful; ensure scanner screens face away from ceiling lights to reduce reflections.

• Brief staff that magnifiers and camera-based apps are legitimate access tools, not security risks.

Broader Implications—for Physical and Virtual Stores

Although the study focused on brick-and-mortar malls, the same taskscape logic translates to online and VR shopping. Pre-shopping web content needs accurate stock and accessibility notes. In-store navigation equates to intuitive VR scene transitions and consistent audio landmarks. Checkout lessons carry over to clearly voiced confirmation dialogs and screen-reader-friendly receipts.

Designing once for the toughest context—shopping with partial vision—often yields cleaner, calmer environments for everyone. Tullio-Pow and colleagues show that small, concrete changes in signage, surfaces and staff training can convert a stressful trip into an ordinary one. That ordinariness, not “wow” moments, is what inclusive retail ultimately aims for.

Reference

Tullio-Pow, S., Yu, H. and Strickfaden, M., 2021. Do You See What I See? The shopping experiences of people with visual impairment. Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, 5(1), pp.42-61.