Independent app concept

K-doc — Find a doctor who speaks your language

A 4-week concept sprint completed at Apple Creative Studios NYC in summer 2022. The deliverable was a validated Figma prototype, presented at Apple Fifth Ave in front of industry professionals and guests.

Type: Self-directed concept
Program: Apple Creative Studios, NYC
Timeframe: Summer 2022 (4 weeks)
Tools: Figma

K-doc — Find a doctor who speaks your language hero image

Why I built this

In 2012, my family immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea. My sister and I acclimated quickly, but the transition was harder for my mom, who struggled to learn English. Over the past decade she's found a Korean community in northern New Jersey — including a network of Korean-speaking doctors, lawyers, and real estate agents she can talk to directly, without a language barrier standing between her and the help she needs. Healthcare is where language and cultural understanding matter most. I saw firsthand how differently my mom was treated, and how much more comfortable she felt, once she could describe her symptoms and ask questions in her own language — not just get by, but actually be understood.

14%

of the U.S. population are immigrants

15%

of U.S. adults speak a language other than English at home

8.3%

of Americans have limited English proficiency

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Existing resources and the gap

Neither option covered the whole need: a mobile-first way to find a Korean-speaking provider, filtered by what you need and where you are.

Zocdoc

Supports English only
Very few Korean-speaking providers listed

Kodoc.com

Directory of Korean providers exists but only on web, no mobile app
Location filtering limited to selecting a state —no way to sort by distance

From sketch to prototype

I moved from low-fidelity storyboards to high-fidelity screens that showed the core search experience end-to-end.

Hand-drawn K-doc launch screen sketch with Korean search prompt and start button — 01 Launch screen

Hand-drawn sketch of nearby dentist results list beside a map view — 02 Providers nearby with a map view

Hand-drawn sketch of a provider detail screen with hours, call action, and reviews — 03 Provider details

Colorpalette, type, iconography kept consistent across the prototype.

High fidelity K-doc splash screen with Korean tagline and start button — 01 Splash screen

High fidelity K-doc home screen with search bar and specialty categories — 02 Home screen

High fidelity K-doc search screen with recent searches and specialty categories in Korean — 03 Search by specialty

High fidelity K-doc search results listing Korean-speaking providers sorted by distance — 04 Search results

High fidelity K-doc provider detail screen with call, directions, hours, map, and reviews — 05 Provider view

Reflection

This was the project that got me into product design. It's where I first used Figma, and where an idea I'd been carrying around (an app that helps people like my mom find care in their own language) actually took shape. Given the four-week timeline, I wasn't able to usability-test with real users. The next step would be sitting down with Korean-speaking immigrants to see whether the language-first search actually reduces the friction it's meant to.