Lighting Mistakes We See All the Time (and How to Dodge Them)

Part 1: The Technical Traps

Lighting can make or break a space — but too often, it gets reduced to numbers on an electrical plan or an afterthought once the ceilings are closed. That’s when the “technical traps” creep in. Let’s look at three common ones we keep seeing on projects (and how you can avoid them).

Mistake 1: Over-lighting Everything

If you’ve ever walked into a restaurant that feels like a hospital ward, you know what we mean. More light doesn’t equal better design. In fact, uniform brightness everywhere is the fastest way to kill mood and flatten architecture.

How to dodge it: Think in layers — ambient, accent, and task lighting. Controlled contrast creates comfort and atmosphere, while still ensuring people can see their food, artwork, or workstation clearly.

“The image above is from a restaurant we worked on called Taco & Tequila. Without any harsh or direct sources, the lighting creates an immediate sense of ease. The focus naturally shifts away from faces and onto what truly matters here — the food and the ambience.”

Mistake 2: Ignoring Glare Control

We’ve all sat under a downlight that felt like a spotlight interrogation. Uncontrolled glare makes people uncomfortable, ruins photos, and ironically, makes a space feel darker because the eye is strained.

How to dodge it: Use optics, louvers, or recessed detailing to hide the source. A well-designed fixture disappears into the architecture, leaving only the effect of the light behind.

“There are many ways to illuminate a space without placing lights directly overhead. The image above, taken at Cobbler & Crew, a restaurant we lit in Pune, demonstrates this approach. By lighting the art, we introduced the required levels of illumination into the space — achieving balance and atmosphere without any glare.”

Mistake 3: Wattage vs. Lumens (Still a Thing!)

Many projects still specify fixtures by wattage — as if “12 watts” tells you how much light you’ll actually get. With LEDs, wattage only tells you power consumption, not brightness. The result? Spaces that are either underlit or wastefully bright.

How to dodge it: Look at lumens (the actual light output) and lux (light levels in the space). That’s what matters for design intent and user comfort.

💡 Pro-tip takeaway: Lighting is more than a checkbox on the MEP drawing. A little attention to layers, glare, and actual light levels can transform a space from flat to fabulous.

Field Story

We once visited a “luxury” café where the owner proudly said, “I told the electrician to put lots of downlights so it’s always bright.” The result? Guests avoided the tables directly under those blazing circles of light, and everyone crammed into the corners instead. The interiors looked better on the architect’s renders than in real life — all because the lighting turned ambience into an afterthought.