The release date is fast approaching and the design blogs have been posting like crazy over the past couple of weeks. Yep, 'Where The Wild Things Are' is nearly here after months of on-line whispers and exclusive screen shots, and the design community seems to be very excited.

I'm not moaning, I'm really looking forward to seeing it too. It was after re-tweeting 'It's Nice That's' tweet on the new featurette that my girlfriend asked why designers are getting sooo excited about it.

It hadn't really occurred to me that designers were any more or any less pumped for the film than anybody else, but if it is the case then I guess it's a combination of the following:

Spike Jonze is directing. He's the alternative persons director that has worked on some of the coolest promotionals of the music video genre, including 'Sabotage', 'Buddy Holly' and 'Praise You' and directed 'Being John Malkovich'. So you know from the start that he would bring something pretty cool to this film and not just be some big corporation hack making a 'safe' cash-in flick.

The use of puppets instead of CGI. I think this traditional approach really speaks out to many people from the design community. There has been a massive upsurge in graphic design over the last year or so or people getting their hands dirty and not just relying on the computer to generate their work. Illustration, collage, hand lettering etc has boomed. Helen Musselwhite's work is a recent example of this aesthetic that I've come across.

Not so designer focused admittedly, but the whole nostalgia thing cannot be overlooked. This is a book that we will all have read as a kids and most of us will have loved it. So while on the surface this could be seen as a children's movie it will appeal to that retro, nostalgic part of many of us.

Sorry to go on! Why not watch the interview with Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze or treat yourself to a look at the trailer.

Oh, and the poster (above) is pretty cool too isn't it?