For business owner and journalist Charlene Prempeh, thinking about creativity by, for or about Black people is an essential part of her practice at A Vibe Called Tech—the creative agency she founded in London. More recently, her research has culminated in a wide-ranging hardcover book, Now You See Me: An Introduction to 100 Years of Black Design. “It’s not an A to Z of Black designers,” Prempeh explains. “It asks, What is the story behind this? And then, Which designers form part of that story?”

Precious Adesina: How did the book come about?

Charlene Prempeh: It was after a conversation with Chrystal Genesis, the founder of the cultural podcast Stance, and Lewis Dalton Gilbert, the creative director at our agency. We were working on a project for Gucci called Pioneers of the...