This paper describes a design process for KO schemes that negotiates between the communicative goals of an author, the information needs of an audience, and the structure of existing subject literature. In the proposed process, the category structures that constitute typical KO schemes are designed in the context of envisioned audience interactions with an information system's resources, and as the support through which an author (or classificationist) expresses rhetorical goals regarding the subject matter being collected, organized, and made available for access.