Outforms: Fresh & Radical Analog System for Creative Clarity

This May, The Wright Innovation Hangar will host the live unveiling of Outforms — a revolutionary analog system designed for thinkers, creatives, and anyone overwhelmed by the digital blur of modern tools. Inspired by the clarity and simplicity of pen and paper, and delivered in the iconic format of a keynote presentation, this event will introduce a bold new framework for attention, creativity, and idea management.

Live at The Wright Innovation Hangar 
🎟️ Invitations Sent
📅 Full Replay Coming Soon here.

Outforms isn’t just a course. And it's no app. It’s not another dashboard, as life isn't.
It’s a reboot of how we use physical space to organize mental space, ideas and tasks, a way to return to clarity in an always-on world.

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🎤 What to Expect from the Outforms Keynote

Outforms creator Antos Sivyh will introduce a system built around five core shapes.

• Circle – to orient your day

• Mountain – to clarify goals and priorities

• Square – to shape focused time

• Arrow – to create movement and sequence

• Map – to reframe your physical world as a creative engine

These tools are not apps — they are paper-based forms you can use in any notebook, workspace, or creative practice. The keynote will explore the psychology behind distraction, the pitfalls of digital overload, and how analog systems can offer faster, more focused thinking in a distracted age.

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🧠 Who This Is For

• Creative professionals seeking to manage complex ideas offline

• Writers, designers, strategists, educators, and anyone whose work depends on thinking clearly

• Entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders who need a system for focus that isn’t screen-based

• Mind map lovers, journaling fans, and productivity skeptics

• Anyone tired of apps, pings, tabs, and dashboards — looking for a calm, creative, human way to reset

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🔍 What Outforms Will Become:

• analog productivity system

• paper-based thinking tools

• creative clarity workshop

• anti-digital planning methods

• creative keynote on analog tools

• screen-free productivity methods

• alternative to digital task managers

• innovative event for creatives and thinkers

• offline workflow system

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🎟️ Attendance & Replay

This is a private, invitation-only event.
Invitations have been sent to early supporters and beta participants.
A public replay of the keynote will be available online following the event.

If you’re interested in early access to the Outforms course, box, or community-based program launching this summer, you’ll find more information at:

👉 More about Outforms here

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🛠 About the Project

Outforms is a live, analog-first methodology created by Antos Sivyh, known for the critically acclaimed “Ruh Game.”
This system builds on over a decade of research into tactile cognition, spatial note-taking, and narrative-based workflows. It invites participants to think through paper — combining fun, precision, and daily exploration in just 10 minutes a day.

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✍️ Why It Matters?

As everyday life keeps overfilled with digital tools that add more noise than clarity, Outforms will hopefully offer a return to focus — not by removing complexity, but by reshaping how we interact with it. The keynote will present a vision of paper as interface, and attention as the real asset of modern life. It is a pleasure for us to host such events and conferences as this Outforms event.

The Measurements of Camposanto, Pisa. Echoes in Stone

When Allied shells struck the Camposanto on July 27, 1944, they didn't just destroy Renaissance frescoes and Roman sarcophagi. They eliminated physical evidence of ancient metrology that scholars had only begun to study.

The Camposanto in Pisa, that unassuming white building overshadowed by its famous leaning neighbor, housed more than art. It contained what mathematicians now recognize as a repository of all kinds of ancient measurement standards preserved in stone.

The marble sarcophagi were totally not selected merely for their artistic merit. Records from the Pisan Maritime Republic indicate: certain sarcophagi were acquired specifically for the proportional relationships encoded in their dimensions.

In 1937, Professor Antonio Ricci noted that several important sarcophagi matched the Vitruvian system of proportions. This system, found in "De Architectura," influenced Renaissance thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci.

Was this deliberate in any way? The documentation suggests it was. Records from the 15th century show that master builders sometimes visited the Camposanto. They came to "verify their measures" against specific sarcophagi, especially those from the Hadrianic period (117-138 CE).

The extreme heat from the 1944 fire altered these precise dimensions forever. Molten lead from the roof didn't just damage the marble's surface; it caused thermal expansion and subsequent contraction that distorted the original proportions. Modern photogrammetry can find where changes happened, but it can't get the exact original measurements back.

More significant were the inscribed measurement marks found on several sarcophagi. These lines were small and precisely carved. Ricci's measurements showed they matched the Roman foot (pes), palm (palmus), and digit (digitus) exactly. These markings provided physical standards of Roman measurements that had survived intact for nearly two millennia—until the fire.

The fire that destroyed the Camposanto's treasures got so hot that it calcined the marble in some spots. This changed calcium carbonate into calcium oxide, permanently altering the stone. What metrological knowledge was preserved in those precisely measured sarcophagi? What standards of measurement might we have verified if the Allied shell had fallen elsewhere?

The sarcophagi of Camposanto contained more than artistic merit. Some bore clear measurement marks. Professor Ricci's 1937 documentation shows these matched the Roman pes, palmus, and digitus exactly. These physical standards had survived nearly two millennia until the fire's heat distorted their dimensions forever. It's interesting that some sarcophagi were placed at a precise angle of 41° from the northern wall. This same angle appears in various ancient measurement sites around the Mediterranean.

The concept of encoding information in physical form rather than written language appears throughout history. Humans have always kept knowledge in a dimensional way instead of a symbolic one. This includes the gear ratios of the Antikythera Mechanism and the strange resonance patterns found in Bell Labs' declassified papers. As Florensky noted before his imprisonment, "The natural world is the primary computer." The real loss at Camposanto might not be artistic. It could also be a missed step in our tech journey.

Today, visitors to the restored Camposanto see only "a shadow of what was lost during the war." They walk through a space that once held art and ancient math knowledge. This knowledge shaped many things, like architecture and navigation.

Like the Nemi ships and Berlin's museum collections, the true loss at Camposanto may not be what was destroyed, but what remains unmeasurable because of that destruction.

The wheel turns. What was once forgotten will be rediscovered when needed.

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Related Articles

The Analog Current: Forgotten Pathways in Computing History - How alternative approaches to computation offer insights for modern technology design.

The Harmonic Interface: Notes from the Periphery - Declassified Bell Labs research on tactile computing systems from 1973.

Ancient Note-Taking: When Paper Wasn't an Option - How civilizations recorded and retrieved information before modern methods.

The Leroy Lettering System: Precision Before Pixels - How engineers achieved standardized technical lettering in the pre-digital era.

The Leroy Lettering System: Precision Before Pixels

Before computer overtook design and digital typography, engineers, architects, and draftsmen faced a challenge: how to add clean, consistent lettering to technical drawings. Handwriting varied too much. Printing presses were impractical for one-off technical plans. The solution came in 1901 with the Leroy lettering system.

How It Worked

The Leroy system consisted of three main components:

1. Templates (stencils with engraved characters)
2. The scriber (a pen-like tracing device)
3. The "frog" (a small adjustable guide that held the ink)

The user would place the template along the drawing, position the frog against the engraved character, and trace the letter with the scriber. The system allowed anyone, regardless of artistic ability, to produce perfect, standardized text.

Keuffel & Esser Company (K&E) used to manufacture these sets in multiple font styles and sizes. A complete professional set included templates ranging from 0.080 inches to 0.500 inches in height, with options for slanted or vertical lettering.

Beyond Leroy: Other Lettering Systems

The Leroy wasn't alone. There were ar least three competing systems, such as:

• Wrico (Wood-Regan Instrument Co.) - Used a different guide mechanism but similar concept
• Braddock-Rowe - Featured a unique "pen arm" design
• Letterguide - Simplified system popular with smaller firms

Each system had (or still has?) its loyal users who would debate their merits much like today's designers argue over software.

Why These Systems Mattered

Before CAD software, technical drawings represented enormous investments of time and skill. A single error in lettering could mean redoing an entire drawing. The Leroy system:

• Ensured consistency across large projects with multiple draftsmen
• Created legible text that could be reproduced in blueprints
• Allowed for different text sizes and styles within a single drawing
• Provided a professional finish that clients expected

Why Some Still Prefer Analog

Surprisingly, some professionals still use Leroy systems today, despite digital alternatives. Their reasons include:

1. Durability - A well-maintained Leroy set from the 1950s works perfectly today. Try using software from even 20 years ago.

2. Independence - No electricity, no software updates, no compatibility issues.

3. Tactile precision - The physical feedback provides a level of control some find superior to mouse clicks.

4. Archival quality - Properly executed Leroy lettering on quality media can last centuries.

One architect who maintains a Leroy set explained: "When I'm making final drawings for historic restoration projects, there's something appropriate about using the same tools that created the original blueprints. For me, Leroy has a character that digital text lacks."

The Legacy Lives On

While Leroy sets are now primarily collectors' items, their influence persists. Many CAD programs include fonts designed to mimic technical lettering styles developed for these systems. The standardized appearance of engineering drawings today owes much to the aesthetic established by Leroy and its competitors.

In a world of disposable technology, there's something remarkable about tools designed so well they remained essentially unchanged for nearly a century. The Leroy lettering system is in a balance of simplicity, functionality, and durability — qualities that are worth remembering and exploring in what people call "digital age". The wheel turns, and does technology return?