How does the Agent Provocateur logo factor in? They like it? Have a look at this thread. Have a look also at two new scripts from Stephen Rapp that are on the more handwritten end of the spectrum: Memoir and Montague.''

If they are looking for something less "slanty" and more upright, consider then Biscotti, Fling or Kursivschrift, big winners with the Martha Stewart crowd.

I showed her the Agent Provocateur before and after to give her an idea of the kind of energy that I want to give her logo, and she got really excited. She knows that her current, "right out of the can" is a little stale, but she still wants to keep the calligraphic, elegant look. I'm not sure that something uber-handwritten will really work... The normal slant of a script is okay with her, but she thinks that Burgues is too "slanty". I love it, I think it has just the energy that the logo needs, without breaking too far from her current logo. I also really like Young Baroque, but I think it might be a little too delicate.

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

Young Baroque is indeed delicate. It needs to be set at a large size to perform well, something you can't promise with a logo that will appear in various sizes. In that vein, Ballantines might strike the right balance.

In the end, this is probably a job for a professional letterer who can get you the precise style, weight, and tone you need. I can recommend fellow Typophiles Michael Clark and Mark Simonson as well as Doyald Young, the designer of Young Baroque.

Oh, I would be thrilled to work with any of those three. Unfortunately, she really doesn't have the budget, so I just have to find something that will work with (of course) some minor modifications by me to customize the logotype for her.

Thanks for the reference Stephen, it is a monstrous deal to me to be recommended by a fellow typophile. I am up to my ass in alligators, but it is amazing to me that clients are not willing to pay for something that ultimately is their identity in absentia. I have always laughed at the people who have settled for the first and the last capital in their name being big, and the in-between small capitals with an underline, in a non descript font for their logo. I do not even try any more. Ignorance is the soup du jour.

No offense Cassie. They are not willing to pay for something that will last more than ten minutes. So they get what they pay for, no matter how far you, as a conscientious designer, are willing to go to give them YOUR absolute best. They do not care. But keep on trying!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any more all I can do is giggle as I drive by store fronts with logos designed by monkeys.

Michael