You may be jumping ahead of yourself a little.
Get the binary counter working first - so you get the idea of bits, 2^n and ripple counters.
To add a 7(
8) segment LED will simply give you four blinking LED segments without any 'digits' displayed.
(They're just different shaped LEDs!) - or you can spend $ on a digit with decoding built-in....
Your next step may be understanding the various methods to decode the 4-bit binary into the LED 7-segment positions...
This could be a BCD to 7-segment decoder
chip, or perhaps a
diode array to light the appropriate segments for each digit's shape. The diode array is a better idea for learning - as it will teach you a lot more about the underlying electronics and logic than buying a black chip.
(Keep an eye on the current capability of the various outputs!)Also you have to decide how you want to drive the LED segments (Common Anode or Common Cathode) - which in turn will define how you select, drive & connect up the LED 'decoder'.
Simply - ONE DIGIT:
4-bit counter
BCD to 7-segment decoder
7-segment LED display
Then you can choose how to cycle between 0-F (hex), or restrict the counting range to 0-9 (decimal)...
There's always more than one way, and even more things you can add later...Once all the above is working - swap out the discrete 4-bit counter for a single TTL 74-series chip...
or the countr and decoder for a CMOS 40xx chip... (
no numbers - you have to find them !)
EDIT: Just found this page - explains a lot for you:
COUNTERS:
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/counter/count_1.htmlDECODE & DISPLAY:
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/combination/comb_6.html