Brendan Byrne 


is a designer and makerspace specialist from Brooklyn. He currently manages StudioLab at Princeton University.

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7-SDS : A Device for Constrained Writing



What
Workshop for Writhing Society

Where
Proteus Gowanus
Brooklyn, NY


When
October 2013 
Collaborators
Corina Bardoff
Tom La Farge
Wendy Walker
Materials & Software
Logic Chips
Interface Hardware
Laser Cut Plexi


About

The 7-SDS (Seven-Segment Display Synthesizer) is a rudimentary computer for displaying text. It is capable of programming six LED displays through the use of an array of switches. Due to the limited resolution of the displays, all but a handful of Roman characters can be represented. W, X, K, M, and Q are the exceptions.

This limitation was the inspiration for generating a lipogram, a constrained writing technique in which selected letters of the alphabet cannot be used to compose a text. In addition to this, all words must be entered on the 7-SDS in six-letter blocks. Blocks may contain more than a word, but a word may never be split across more than one block.

The 7-SDS was presented at Proteus Gowanus to the Writhing Society, a collection of writers who practice the methods invented and codified by the Oulipo. The text below was composed by Corina Bardoff.














Brendan is a Brooklyn-based designer
hello@brendanbyrne.info