What skills do you need to become a UI designer?

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I'm learning Photoshop, Illustrator. What else should i focus on?
What are mockups, wireframes?

design

user experience

photoshop

society

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tynamite

Designing for websites is 50% branding and 50% problem solving, or 50% usability and 50% organisation and navigation. Design is about asking the right questions and answering them appropriately.

Questions like

How can my design differentiate between competitors?
What problems am I trying to solve?
What is my target audience?
What message am I trying to portray?
How can I create a memorable experience?
How can I create something that has a purpose?
Can I create any design language?
What is all the information on the page, and how can I organise it in an elegant way?
What new thing can I do in design, that I haven't done before?

I cannot just give you one skill to improve on, as there's different branches of UI design, such as web design, user experience, mobile design, typography design, logo design, illustration and more, so you would have to be specific in what sort of design you want to improve on.

What helped me is the Smashing Book 1 and Smashing Book 2. You should buy it.

Most UI website work isn't very graphical, and it's all about whitespace, filling space, and letting the content breathe. You might want to use Pinterest as a mood board or to collate your influences.