Separate a criterion from a custom
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
For the printshop's small exhibition, legibility at the intended viewing distance was one criterion for selecting a poster. Using two colors was the norm among last year's entries, but the organizers had never required that choice. Dev noticed a strong conformity in the new submissions because many members copied the familiar two-color pattern. He asked whether a readable three-color poster should be excluded, prompting the panel to distinguish its announced judging standard from a customary approach that participants had adopted voluntarily.
The panel returned to the criterion of legibility and tested Dev's poster at the intended distance. Its departure from the two-color norm did not by itself make it unsuitable, because a usual pattern was not automatically a rule. The conformity of many other entries showed how strongly an established example could influence choices. In the final discussion, the panel explained the standard it had actually applied so that members could understand why a less customary design still qualified for the exhibition.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.