Translation-first localization
The UI copy is now in English, but onboarding still assumes a Korean user, so first-time users don’t grasp the product’s value.
Can a first-time user understand the value and get started?
Product design across markets.
New market context, your product’s next step.
We understand how your users and their work environments differ, then design the product experience and execution priorities with your team.
Healthcare · Enterprise · Complex operational workflows
Why Us
We understand products, people, and business—together.
Translation alone won’t get your product used in a new market. When the market and users change, how people work, how they make sense of a product, and how they judge trust all shift too—and teams that built for the Korean market often find these differences hard to see from the inside.
Different ways of working
Core workflows don’t fit how local teams divide roles and handle approvals, so the product isn’t used in day-to-day work.
Do core workflows match how target users actually work?
Structure and wording
Menu structure and button labels don’t make the next step clear.
Do the screen structure and wording clearly guide the next action?
No clear priorities
There seems to be a lot to fix, but the team can’t decide what to tackle first before launch.
Which UX problems should be fixed first before launch?
The examples above illustrate common types of trial and error; they are not specific client cases.
So good decisions turn into team action.
Design doesn’t end with screens. We explain design intent and priorities in language the whole team can use, and decide together what happens next.
- Explain the reasons behind priorities using user impact, business importance, and implementation effort.
- Document design intent, requirements, and edge cases before development.
- Break the agreed direction into next tasks the team can act on.
Products and roles
Each entry separates the company’s background from Rachel’s role.
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2025–2026
Healthcare SaaS
- Company background
- A venture-backed U.S. home healthcare startup from Y Combinator’s W21 batch
- Rachel’s role
- Led product design for the AI scheduling platform as founding designer and built the company’s first design system.
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2024
Enterprise monitoring
- Company background
- A global pharmaceutical company’s monitoring platform supporting vaccine operations
- Rachel’s role
- Designed an AI-based incident management experience as a contract Senior Product Designer through a UX design agency.
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2019
Product localization
- Company background
- Korean-language products for a global tech company
- Rachel’s role
- Localized UX copy and design assets over six weeks with a U.K. production agency and the client’s Korea and U.S. teams.
Services
Start with the help your product needs now.
We work at the scope your team needs. From a short review to product design and development collaboration, you can start where you are today.
Example deliverables by service
Example deliverable The screens below show what deliverables can look like. They are examples, not actual project results.
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Example UX review - 1Asks for input before explaining the product’s value.
- 2Requires a Korean business registration number that U.S. users don’t have.
- 3“Submit” doesn’t say what happens next.
Product UX Review
- Scope
- Onboarding, core tasks, information architecture, UI copy
- Deliverable
- UX review report with priorities
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ENBook a visitTue, Mar 4 · 2:30 PMDr. Jane KimConfirm visitKO방문 예약3월 4일 (화) 오후 2:30김제인 선생님방문 확정
Example localization comparison - Date and time order
- Name order and honorifics
- Buttons and spacing sized to the copy
Market Context Session
- Scope
- Target users, ways of working, localization assumptions
- Deliverable
- Consultation and a summary of key recommendations
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Example user flow - 1Pick an issue from the list.
- 2Check the cause and impact.
- 3Confirm the next action.
Design Partnership
- Scope
- Design, prototyping, and development collaboration on agreed problems
- Deliverable
- Product design deliverables matched to the agreed scope
From product problems to buildable design.
We design agreed problems as user flows and screens, then carry them through prototyping and development collaboration. Documenting design intent, requirements, and edge cases together reduces differences in interpretation during implementation.
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Default
Input border at 3:1 or more against the background
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Error
Explain the cause in words, not just color
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Disabled
Explain why it can’t be pressed
Selected Work
Turning complex work and new contexts of use into clear product experiences.
Three projects Rachel Cho delivered in previous roles, before starting Second Context. Client names are not disclosed.
- 01 Scheduling
- P1P2P2P302 Priority triage
- ENKO03 Korean localization
Recreated for illustration · Sample data
Case list
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Home Healthcare SaaS · 2025–2026Scheduling UX for a U.S. home healthcare SaaS
Designed complex eligibility conditions, scheduling rules, and exceptions so users could understand them and act right away.
Recreated for illustration
Key design decision Instead of exposing internal rules and codes, a calendar of bookable dates and clear status indicators let users decide their next step.
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5.8 to 8.2
User rating Confidence in planning schedules, measured in the pilot
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180 sec to 60 sec
Work outcome Task time after several improvements were applied together
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35% less
Work outcome Manual validation in the AI-assisted scheduling workflow
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3,000+
Adoption scope Clinicians using the AI scheduling recommendation experience
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Global Pharma · Enterprise Monitoring · 2024Operations monitoring and incident management UX for a global pharmaceutical company
Connected severity, scope of impact, and investigation priority across a large volume of information.
P1P2P2P3Recreated for illustration
Key design decision Restructured information scattered across 8 dashboards around severity and downstream impact, so teams could first decide what to investigate.
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30 min to 3 min
Work outcome Incident investigation time reported in the project
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80% faster
Work outcome Incident triage time after redesigning decision-support workflows and signal display
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40% faster
Work outcome Ticket processing time in developers’ internal tools
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Global Tech · Korean Localization · 2019Korean product localization for a global tech company
Adapted the product experience to the language and its context of use.
ENKORecreated for illustration
Key design decision Went beyond translated copy, adapting name, date, and time formats as well as typography and spacing to the Korean context of use.
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6 weeks
Project length Localization period in 2019, with a production agency and the client’s Korea and U.S. teams
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Figures are as measured and reported in each project; measurement methods differ by project.
Working through a similar challenge?
Let’s look at your product and where it stands today.
Founder
A design partner for working through complex problems together.
I’m Rachel Cho, the product and UX consultant who leads Second Context. I led product design as a founding designer at a U.S. healthcare startup from Y Combinator that raised $14.2 million. Drawing on my experience with enterprise systems and product localization for global companies, I diagnose complex problems and connect them to clear priorities and real, working design.
I funded my own education and built my career as an immigrant, navigating a new language and culture. Traveling as a digital nomad taught me to understand different backgrounds and perspectives—and it shapes how I look at the context a product is used in, and the people within it.
Today, I work through challenges with product teams and founders, and help immigrant communities and junior designers make a fresh start. Through mentoring on ADPList and teaching UX and AI product design at Flexwork Pro, I share what I’ve learned and help people find a practical next step, even when the way forward feels unclear.
- 40+Projects completed
- 12+Global & multinational companies worked with
- 27Countries visited
Contact
Start with a 30-minute call.
Tell us about your product, your target market, and the challenges you’re working through. We’ll explore the right scope of collaboration together.
