This report is the first of a regular series of reports to be issued describing the progress of a research project on Ergonomics in relation to Machine Tool Design. The project is being carried out in the Ergonomics Laboratory of the Department of Production and Industrial Administration under the sponsorship of the Machine Tool Industry Research Association. The report is in two sections, the first of which outlines the scope of Ergonomics in relation to Machine Tool design and the existing state of this aspect of design in various firms representative of the industry in the United Kingdom. The second section details a project which was undertaken after consultation with one of the Research Association's members, into the problems of legend design. Here the design approach is probably applicable to similar problems on most machine tool types.