A couple of points on your sketch.
An LED is a diode (Light emitting diode) so there is nothing to be gained from putting another in series but there is something to be lost and that's 0.7 ish of a volt.
By putting a resister in series with the gnd of the output pin means you shift the ground level and generally this isn't good in digital systems though some do use it to try and match voltages it is generally better to try and match the + side of the circuit and leave the gnd as gnd. You should (IMHO) always have a resister from the output to a device this will protect your board if the transistor goes short circuit.
So in short I'm agreeing with Osgeld with his suggestion but thought I should explain why.