Spartan is a geometric sans-serif typeface

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

 created by staff designers of Mergenthaler Linotype Company as a direct competitor to Bauer's

Bauer Type Foundry

The Bauer Type Foundry was a German type foundry founded in 1837 by Johann Christian Bauer in Frankfurt am Main. Noted typeface designers, among them Lucian Bernhard, Konrad Friedrich Bauer , Walter Baum, Heinrich Jost, Imre Reiner, Friedrich Hermann Ernst Schneidler, Emil Rudolf Weiß, and Heinrich...

 Futura

Futura (typeface)

In typography, Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933...

. The face was made for machine composition by Linotype, while identical foundry type was issued by American Type Founders

American Type Founders

American Type Founders was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type manufactured in the United States...

. Testing by Bausch & Lomb

Bausch & Lomb

Bausch & Lomb, an American company based in Rochester, New York, is one of the world's leading suppliers of eye health products, such as contact lenses and lens care products today. In addition to this main activity, in recent years the area of medical technology has been developed...

, after the creation of Spartan in 1951, determined it to be the "most readable" typeface of the time.