diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d8172b8..6bd8557 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,17 @@ built behind a feature branch and reviewed before merge.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+## 1.6.1 (2026-07-07)
+
+Docs and visual-identity release; no engine code changes since 1.6.0.
+
+- Visual-identity refresh: new spectrum banner (`.github/assets/banner.svg`) and a
+  feature-first README header, with the delivery contract in `tests/test_docs.py`
+  updated to pin the new assets.
+- Docs overhaul: the README body rewritten feature-first, and a new
+  `docs/INTRODUCTION.md` walkthrough covering the current toolkit end to end.
+- Live PyPI downloads badge added to the README.
+
 ## 1.6.0
 
 The web-data engine release (2026-07-04): a capability-superset web toolkit carrying gather's
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6b09797..584f7d2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ The `web` adapter reads static HTML and does not run JavaScript; a client-render
 - [ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md): the design map, seams, and threat model.
 - [docs/WEB-ENGINE-UPLIFT.md](docs/WEB-ENGINE-UPLIFT.md): the web-data engine roadmap and benchmarks.
 - [docs/ENTERPRISE-READINESS.md](docs/ENTERPRISE-READINESS.md): context envelopes, action receipts, and host-neutral operation for unattended agents.
-- [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md): version history. Current release: 1.6.0.
+- [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md): version history. Current release: 1.6.1.
 
 Peer projects: [crucible](https://github.com/HarperZ9/crucible) (judgment), [index](https://github.com/HarperZ9/index) (code maps), [forum](https://github.com/HarperZ9/forum) (orchestration), [telos](https://github.com/HarperZ9/telos) (the engine).
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d102972..6fead54 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "gather-engine"
-version = "1.6.0"
+version = "1.6.1"
 description = "Accountable research intake for difficult sources, with provenance receipts and witnessed digests."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
diff --git a/src/gather/__init__.py b/src/gather/__init__.py
index b5b2e9e..7bee61a 100644
--- a/src/gather/__init__.py
+++ b/src/gather/__init__.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 from gather.source import Catalog, Source
 from gather.store import Corpus
 
-__version__ = "1.6.0"
+__version__ = "1.6.1"
 
 __all__ = [
     "Catalog", "Corpus", "Digest", "Item", "NullProvenanceProvider", "NullSynthesizer",