Meridien
Classica
La Gioconda
ITC Giovanni

Thanks, Stephen. Great suggestions, but I don't think I have any of those in my limited library. Please keep them coming, and think "basic" or "common." Thanks.

Koppa, which foundries do you frequent? Does it have to mimick Trajan or can it be a sans or other?

Palatino, being the most common
Stempel Schneidler, being less common, but still common?

> which foundries do you frequent?

Let me shed a little light here. None. I got a refurbished G4 about two years ago, my friend mIEKAL gave me a discful of fonts...helpful but far from professional...and I have no resources to shop for more. In the basement I have hundreds of pounds of lead type, mostly from the American Type Founders Co. All useless until I build or acquire a studio space for the press, currently in storage.

Mimick? I think no. I like Dan's Palatino suggestion, but we'll see what happens when I mix two romans...that's why I was thinking, "Should it be a sans?" Or is pitting "the new typography" against the most classic of the romans a bad idea? And then I got to thinking, "This is a good question for the Typophiles."

Comic Sans?

I'm probably too late with this but would have suggested Helvetica — as a perfectly good way of saying to hell with it! It wouldn't be hard to space it so that it has a faux elegance that would have rendered it acceptable to the client..

Take a look at Hypatia Sans Pro (Adobe) and at Shango Gothic (Castle Type).

A.

Going Hollywood?
Try this.

>think “basic” or “common.”
Optima?

Thanks all. For now, I'm not going to post the finished product because it's too embarrassing. This is a perfect example of a client who knows what she wants and won't heed the advise of her designer/typographer. I did ultimately propose a Helvetica Light complement because it was the "classic" sans to accompany the "classic" roman. High contrast/low conflict. It looked pretty slick (even though the logo is awful). She didn't like it. I quickly showed her a few more "classic" sans, and she liked Gill Sans the best. I said, "Are you sure? The heavy vertical strokes and lighter horizontal strokes of Gill Sans make it sort of an almost-roman typeface, which is starting to create some conflict with the Trajan in your logo." Her response was as if she didn't hear a word I said. "I like the Gill Sans." Okay. Here's the bill...

(I feel like I've been busted for over-analyzing an entry...I just edited this comment because I had omitted a word in the original post (which changed the meaning of the sentence slightly). In doing so, the comment was moved to the bottom of the list, thus screwing up the flow of the dialogue. This particular comment originally posted just below the Optima suggestion.)

I quickly showed her a few more “classic” sans

Don’t ever show options you yourself are not committed to … the client always will pick that one! :°p

“I like the Gill Sans.” Okay. Here’s the bill...

I hope the bill wasn’t sans. ;°)

> Don't ever show options...

She happened to be at our house for a knit-wits club while I was working on it. She asked about the progress, and was watching over my shoulder as I explored her options in real time. Believe me, this was the fastest way to get the job done, and that was my main objective!

Univers Ultra Condensed...(just joking)

“Are you sure? The heavy vertical strokes and lighter horizontal strokes of Gill Sans make it sort of an almost-roman typeface, which is starting to create some conflict with the Trajan in your logo.”

I'm confused by this. Wouldn't Gill make the perfect match for Trajan? It's obviously influenced by Gill's familiarity with the Roman lapidary forms. Use the light weight light you were talking about for Helvetica, or for contrast, one of the darker weights that doesn't verge into goofiness.

OR, since the italic doesn't have that much of a slant to it, you could dare to try it. OR, since we're on the subject, it could have been a chance to use the Joanna italic.

Options abound, so always look on the bright side of life!

A bit of a digression:
http://www.goodiebag.tv/episodes/06_trajan_is_the_movie_font.htm