There are many ways to build electronic circuits. In the tube days, many builders used terminal strips and point to point wiring within the project chassis. All the projects from this site were built using Ugly Construction.
Component leads that require grounding are soldered directly to the copper surface.
The copper surface serves as a low impedance ground and a mechanical anchor to components soldered to it. The grounded components serve as mechanical supports for the rest of the circuitry as you build from your schematic. IC's or commercial diode ring mixers can be flipped upside down and leads that need grounding are soldered directly to or via small wires to the copper surface. With non-stranded wire, you do not have to worry about little stay wire hairs causing shorts and it is easier to wrap around components such as resistors or transistors. I use red for wires that carry positive voltage, green for grounding and black for wires that carry AC signals short distances.