THIS PAPER DISCUSSES KINEMATIC/KINETIC PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF MULTI-DOF MECHANISMS AND PROPOSES ANALYTICAL AND GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS FOR THEM. THESE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS ARE KINEMATIC CROSS-COUPLING, DIRECTIONAL MOBILITY, FORCE MANIPULABILITY, AND MOTION EFFICIENCY. PROPERTIES OF PROPOSED ANALYTICAL/GRAPHICAL MEASURES ARE ELABORATED FOR THE PURPOSE OF MECHANISM GEOMETRY SYNTHESIS. GRAPHICAL PERFORMANCE DISTRIBUTION OVER MECHANISM REACHABLE WORKSPACE ENABLE DESIGNERS TO VIEW THE PERFORMANCE AS A WHOLE. CRITICAL PERFORMANCE POINTS REPRESENTING EXTREME CONDITIONS OF THESE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS ARE IDENTIFIED AND USED FOR DESIGN. THE PROPOSED PERFORMANCE TOOLS ARE DEMONSTRATED FOR THE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS ROBOTIC MECHANISMS.