Within the Nordic collaboration NMF (Nordic Meeting for Improved Road Equipment) it was agreed in 2007 that a project on legibility of variable message signs, VMS, would be started. This document reports on a pilot study of a subproject within this project, performed at the Technical University of Denmark, DTU. The questions at issue for the pilot study were to investigate how the legibility distance depended on luminance class, symbol thickness and space between symbols in daylight. Apart from this, the method of the study was also tested in practice. VMS pictures showing randomised two digit numbers were made. Luminance class was tested in two levels, symbol thickness in three levels and space between symbols in three levels. Six test subjects with satisfactory sight were instructed to walk from a start position at about 400 m away from the sign towards the sign to the point where they, separately, were completely sure of the combination of digits shown. The legibility distance between the VMS and the subject was registered, and the procedure was repeated with all the conditions.