Mike Samarzja
Design in the Fast Lane.

• attended John Marshall High School, Milwaukee, WI
• graduated 1987, BFA Industrial Design, minor in Graphic Design
• currently Industrial Design Manager @ Buell Motorcycle Company

“If you’re prepared to work hard, and have a great passion for art and design, MIAD can provide with the tools to achieve your goals.”

Samarzja

Q. What did you think you wanted to be when you grew up?

A. I always thought I would like to be an architect.

Samarjza

A. Doing all the posters and diorama work for my sixth grade class with a good friend and fellow student.

Q. How did your MIAD education affect where you are today?

A. Dramatically. I returned to school at thirty years old after realizing I was not challenged enough in my profession. I now work as the Industrial Design Manager for Buell Motorcycle Company. We are the producers of the only American sportbikes and are owned by Harley-Davidson. I would not have been able to get this position without the degree I earned at MIAD.

Q. What was the most valuable thing you learned at MIAD?

A. No matter what you put your mind to you can accomplish it.

Q. What’s the one thing you would tell a high school student who is considering attending MIAD now that you’ve experienced life after graduation?

A. If you are prepared to work hard, and have a great passion for art and design, MIAD can provide you with the tools to achieve your goals. The instructors are very engaged with the student’s work and learning process. Students support and learn from each other.

Q. What are your goals for the future, in art/design and in life?

A. To continue to lead my team to do the best motorcycle designs in the world and also focus more time on my own personal art and hobbies.

Q. Are there any specific parts of your resume that you would like to share?

A. I am very pleased by the fact that when I started at Buell it was a small company building a handful of expensive bikes per year out of a three car garage; through the hard work of the team we now are part of Harley-Davidson, Inc. building tens of thousands of world class machines that have earned multiple prestigious Good Design Awards and have been named the Best Handling Motorcycle in the World and Best American Bike of All Time by the largest motorcycle publications in Europe and America.

I have been fortunate enough to be a key part of the teams that created Buell motorcycles from the 1995 S2-Thunderbolt through the present day XB series bikes such as XB9 and 12s Lightnings, XB9SX City-X, XB9 and 12R Firebolts and XB12X Ulysses. Of course there are many more Buell bikes to come and those are the ones I’m most excited about now!

Buell Sportbikes

A. In school you often do a lot of ‘Blue Sky’ type of projects which are great for learning how to think creatively. In a professional environment, you have many more challenges and real world considerations. I’ve often asked myself, “What else is there to be instead of an Industrial Designer?” You get to use your creativity to bring both beauty and function to the things people enjoy in their everyday lives!