One of the most important things to help you design a project is a board for the components.
The choice depends on if you want to keep the circuit as a project or just experiment with the circuit.
At Talking Electronics we have a whole range of boards for different purposes. We use Breadboards for quick construction, Matrix Boards for laying out a project so it can be copied to make a Printed Circuit Board and Surface-Mount Boards for these wonderfully miniature components.
We have designed Matrix Boards in all shapes and sizes so you can pick a board to exactly fit a project.
Everything you do should be neat and clean and that's why you need to have a range of boards so you can pick the most-suitable board.  

Do NOT use STRIP BOARD. The strips have to be cut and its sometimes difficult to place the components exactly where you want them. Cutting the strips is very time-consuming and a messy thing to do. They also force you to lay out the parts according to the strips and this makes the project very large and messy.
I still have 3 samples of strip-board, sent to me over 30 years ago. I have never used them.
They are the worst concept ever to be put on the market.

Do NOT use Strip-board. The layout can be much smaller on matrix board
and if you use matrix board, the layout can be directly converted to a
a Printed Circuit Board layout.
 

For a quick construction you can choose a breadboard:

see eBay:  

see eBay 

Or for a more-permanent construction you can choose a MATRIX BOARD:

Send email  to Talking Electronics for these boards.

This is a UNIVERSAL BOARD containing holes and pads so you can layout the parts and solder them to create a circuit and join the components with fine tinned copper wire. The final result will be exactly like the layout of a printed circuit board and you can copy the design and KNOW IT WILL WORK.

Talking Electronics has created a number of matrix boards of different shapes and sizes so you can build a project that looks neat an d professional.
There are three different ways you can build a project.
1. Using through-hole components and a board consisting of holes and lands, the final result will look very similar to a Printed Circuit Board and the layout can be copied directly to produce a Printed Circuit Board.
2. Using surface-mount components and a Designer Board consisting of lands, the components can be soldered to the lands and joined with fine tinned copper wire or enamelled wire.
3. The project can use a mixture of through-hole components and surface-mount. This makes the project look very simple as the surface-mount components are hidden under the board.

Talking Electronics has prototyping boards for all these arrangements and you can buy a set of boards to cater for all types of layouts.


SELECTING A MATRIX BOARD
If you have some idea of the size of the board you will need for a project, go to the range of boards designed by Talking Electronics and pick the most suitable.
These boards make a project look very neat and they are used for all the projects we design.
 
Here's an example of a surface-mount project built on Talking Electronics 24 holes x 50 Matrix board using both surface-mount and through-hole components. Note the number of connecting wires. It would be almost impossible to create the circuit if you have to constantly turn the board over to create the wiring. It is MUCH easier to work on one side of the board.