The Universal Waite tarot deck is based on original line drawings for the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck by Pamela Colman Smith. It is not known whether the flat colours used in the standard Rider-Waite were Smith's idea or her publisher's, especially since the Original Rider-Waite Tarot, a facsimile edition of the deck as it first appeared in 1907, shows slightly deeper, richer colours.
By popular demand, illustrator Mary Hanson-Roberts, creator of the Hanson-Roberts Tarot, was commissioned to produce a more subtly and attractively coloured rendition of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. The Universal deck first appeared in the early 1990s. The copyright held on the original deck appears only to be valid towards particular coloured editions, thus recreating from the original line art with new colouring has allowed this deck to grow in popularity based on familiarity and visual appeal. It comes in a standard large size and a minuscule travel edition in a keyring case.