It's often said that PC board design is 90% placement and 10% routing. While the actual figures are of no importance, the concept that component placement is by far the most important aspect of laying out a board, certainly holds true.
Good component placement will make your layout job easier and
give the best electrical performance. Bad component placement can turn your routing job into a nightmare and give poor electrical performance - perhaps not even work at all. It may even make your board unmanufacturable. So there is a lot to think about when placing components!
Every designer has their own method of placing components. If
you gave the same circuit (no matter how simple) to 100 different experienced designers, you're likely to get 100 different PC board layouts.
So there is no absolute right way to place your components.
It's largely a matter of experience. But there are quite a few basic rules which will help ease your routing, give you the best electrical performance and simplify large and complex designs.
