A testing apparatus has been developed to study the behavior of sheet metals and composite materials under monotonic and cyclic biaxial loading conditions. This test facility employs cruciform specimens that are loaded in their plane. Problems encountered while developing the test system are discussed. We also discuss the difficulties common to test methods employing cruciform specimens. These relate to the design of a suitable specimen geometry and to the determination of the stresses throughout the specimen. A method for designing an optimal geometry for these specimens is presented. This method is based on the statistical tools of factorial and response surface designs. The statistical method, coupled with a finite-element analysis of the specimen, was successfully applied to optimize the geometry of a cruciform specimen with a circular reduced central region.