Press Release
Squirll Application by Maria Borysova Receives the A' Design Award in Digital Product Design
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Maria Borysova for digital product design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Squirll Application by Maria Borysova has been granted the A' Design Award in the Digital Product Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the A' Design Award
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
More About Squirll Application
Squirll is a personal finance application designed for mobile and web use. Squirll allows users to track spending, set goals, and follow their progress towards financial targets. Receipts are logged by camera or by manual entry, and image recognition converts printed receipts into digital records with automatic categorisation. Natural language processing supports a chatbot that answers questions about spending in everyday language and highlights trends and saving opportunities. The interface uses a minimal dark theme with high-contrast charts.
About Maria Borysova
Mary Borysova is a Senior Product Designer with more than twelve years of experience designing complex digital products across healthcare, enterprise software, and emerging AI technologies. Over the course of her career, she has contributed to more than fifteen product launches across consumer, enterprise, and clinical environments. Beyond product work, Mary regularly contributes to the broader design community through public speaking and writing. She has spoken at conferences and industry events across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, sharing perspectives on AI product design, design leadership, and the evolving role of designers in shaping responsible technology.
Award Record
With this recognition, Maria Borysova is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Digital Product Design Award
The A' Digital Product Design Award is an international competition recognizing top digital product designs by leading brands, designers and agencies worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to digital product designers, user experience designers, user interface designers and interaction designers from all countries. Entries typically include digital products, apps, e-books, virtual reality experiences, interactive websites and digital games. Awarded digital product designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/digital-product
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/174220
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/174220
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!174220
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/370572
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://rb.gy/vcs6zl
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Squirll Application
- Function
- Application
- Category
- Digital Product Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Software
- Colors
- Black, Dark Slate Gray, Light Gray, Lavender and Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Maria Borysova
- Country
- Great Britain
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #174220
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Application that allows users to track their spending, set smart goals, optimise their spending using AI powered chatbot. Users can surface the insights related to their spending patterns, smart saving opportunities and see how they progress towards their targets. Receipt tracking allows users to see spending on category and item levels, allowing granular analytics and personalised offerings.
- Inspiration
- This design was inspired by premium applications that prioritize both elegance and functionality combining a sleek, minimal dark theme with intuitive navigation. Every detail, from the high-contrast charts to the contextual AI chatbot responses, is crafted to make financial management not just smarter, but genuinely enjoyable. The dark theme makes the interface feel sleek while helping key numbers and charts stand out.
- Research
- We conducted research to address the stress and confusion many adults face in everyday money management. Through interviews, market research, and usability tests, we uncovered key challenges like information overload, inconsistent saving habits, and emotional fatigue around finances. Insights revealed a strong need for intuitive, personalized tools that ease decision making and build confidence over time. These findings shaped Squirll’s conversational design, smart nudges, and emotionally aware feedback.
- Challenge
- The challenge was to design an experience that empowers users to quickly analyze spending and make optimal financial decisions using AI. We addressed this by introducing smart summaries, clean visualizations, and a conversational chatbot that simplifies complex data. This integrated AI assistant serves as both a guide and a dynamic reporting tool, monitoring spending to highlight unusual activity and savings opportunities in real time. By translating technical analysis into actionable, plain language insights, the chatbot reduces the mental burden of money management and supports more informed decision making.
- Realization and Technology
- The app uses the leading AI technologies such as image recognition and natural language processing. Image recognition enables accurate receipt scanning and automatic categorization of expenses, reducing manual input and improving data accuracy. Natural language processing powers the interactive assistant, allowing users to ask questions about their spending, receive personalized insights, and set financial goals using everyday language.
- Operation and Interaction
- Users log their receipts using camera or manual entry, the system analyzes and transforms print receipts into digital. Using AI, the system provides insights about trends and spending patterns for the individual user, highlighting potential tax refunds, expiring warranties, and opportunities to optimize future purchases.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project was designed in London and went live in 2025.
- Specifications
- A mobile and web application were designed and developed for this project to cater to the needs of different user groups, ensuring accessibility, intuitive navigation, and seamless performance across platforms.
- Keywords
- Product Design, Digital Design, Mobile Application, Web Application, Finance, AI
