User experience in composition: Rethinking the past and mapping the future of writing, design, and technology

This article argues that user experience (UX) is not merely an industry-driven trend but also a concept deeply rooted in the composition’s historical values such as multimodality, audience awareness, and inclusive practices. Drawing on four decades of scholarship in Computers and Composition , the article maps a historical genealogy of UX-mediated practices, ranging from early conversations surrounding technologies in the service of writing instruction to the contemporary focus on multimodality, accessibility, and participatory design. This historical analysis demonstrates how these critical conversations align with the key principles and values of UX, including human-centered design, iterative design, and design thinking. The article then reframes UX composition as a bridge between the field’s past and its future, with a focus on showing how the integration of emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality extends the field’s long-standing commitments to UX composition practice and pedagogy. Ultimately, UX composition provides both a reflective and forward-looking framework for designing human-centered, multimodal, and culturally diverse writing futures.