>>2951809
component placement is like 90% of the layout process. make your schematic with layout in mind (shouldn't be too hard considering that you have like 4 ICs), and then place your components right to minimize traces crossing. actually routing the traces should be pretty quick and is best left for the end of the layout process
>>2951840
>>2951871
that was me. nowadays, i go straight to production without any breadboarding. with the simple 4 layer, mcu-to-peripheral types of boards that i put together, following whatever design guides given in your components' datasheets is almost always good enough to get it working.
if anything is fucked up, i'll fix it with jumpers and note whatever fix down for the next board rev. i also dont pay for my boards so i'm a lot more willing to throw money at a board that might not work the first time around.
even in industry, you'll see people going straight to production with complex (multi GHz, HDI, RF, etc) boards since actual board layout is very important and impossible to test with a breadboard/perfboard. even if it's simple enough to breadboard, they'll just simulate it in ltspice or simetrix or whatever
breadboarding might be fine when you're first starting out, but you're gonna grow out of it pretty quick.
>>2951884
kicad is probably one of the best, if not the best EDA suite available out there for simple boards. it's modern, free, easy to learn, the ui is clean, and it's constantly getting better. it's more than suitable for anything you'll be doing at the hobby/diy level
>>2951900
>altium
>better
lol. lmao, even.