Hi there,
I'm working on a piece (website) where my main nav is set in Gill Sans Regular. There are 3 places on the design where I'd like to use a more "emotional" face (it's late, I'm sure there's a better term than 'emotional'). I chose Mrs. Eaves italic. I'm using it as a display for 3 subheadlines. One is over a photo, (very much like an ad) and the other 2 are smaller, and used with small subheadlines.

I checked the x-height of mrs. eaves against Gill Sans, and Gill is substantially higher. It's my understanding that when combining faces, I should look for similar x-heights, correct? Any opinions or insight on how important this rule is?

I need to provide enough contrast here so that my subheadline font is a bit friendlier than what I have going on with Gill (though Gill is arguably a pretty friendly face). I tried Bodoni BE italic, and its x-height is closer in size to Gill, though I'm not sure if I want to go the Bodoni route (I tend to overuse it a bit in my work, and I fear it's slightly too modern for what I want here). Basically I'm trying to speak to an audience with a font that will resonate with them emotionally but not be too frivolous or "fashion industry." I want to be fresh, but stick with some tried and true typefaces. Mrs. Eaves has some traditional aspects to it, combined with some slight quirkiness, that appeals to me.

Finally, I'm up against a "marketing person" who insists that typography should be more similar than different and suggests that in place of BOTh the Mrs. Eaves and Gill Sans, I put in Arial, and Helvetica. *sigh*. Now, I do understand the practice of using, say, a family and building a design or hierarchy off that. I have no qualms about that and actually use some instances of a heavier Gill in this design. However, when further mixing faces, I'm of the theory that type contrasts need to contrast enough so their difference is obvious--that too much similarity (e.g. combining Georgia with Times) creates uncomfortable tension.

Any thoughts on me sticking with Mrs. Eaves? Or if there's another face that might work well to contrast with Gill Sans, I'd be open to that, too. FYI, I'm using Arial for my browser text (body font).

Thank you, appreciate any help or insight.
Reese