Black Book Manifesto by Uncommon Beat

The Black Book Manifesto by Uncommon Beat is the follow up, or I should say the continuation of the “Book” series. Much like the original Black Book of Playing Cards, Manifesto gets its strength from the continuing concept that everyone has a Card that represents them. I have to admit I’m a big fan of the direction this series has gone and truly enjoy the presentation.

Manifesto picked up where the Black Book left off, it seems to have taken all the beautiful typography and made it even better. The courts are a crisper representation while still utilizing the style of the words being the framework for the art. The biggest improvement is to the back design, a hypnotic circular pattern that once viewed more carefully brings the design full circle to the typography used to create it.

The tuck is a beautiful black base stock with silver foil accents that’s just eye catching and clean. The back design is carried to the tuck as well, but not in typography fashion, but just as a linear representation of the same hypnotic pattern.  The deck is offered in two versions, one Bicycle Branded and one unbranded. As I mentioned earlier, the courts as well as Jokers, Ace of Spades and face cards for that matter have a much more appealing overall look than the original, that’s not to say the original Black Book was anything to frown on.

I love this deck; I really enjoy Uncommon Beat’s talent and willingness to go in a different direction with their projects. With Manifesto, the beauty is in the details, the details being the written words so precisely placed and used. The words are selected to bring the concept all together in one appealing package. I can see this not being everyone’s cup of tea, but if you haven’t taken a closer look at the work involved in Manifesto as well as The Black Book of Cards, you should. In a sea of similar offerings now a days, decks like Manifesto break the mold, but keep form and function intact within the concept and artwork that it brings to the table.

If you’re a fan of Limited Editions you can pick up the recently released Gold Versions of both the Branded and Unbranded Manifesto decks, a beautiful companion to the Black and Silver offering with a super low Print Run of only 420 Branded and 393 Unbranded versions available.

“Must Have” is a bit overused these days, but I’m confident Manifesto as well as Uncommon Beats previous releases would be a great addition to any collection.