Osterer studied communications design with an internship with Ruedi Baur in Lyon and a post-grad internship with Lars Müller. She worked with the designer to organise the work archives of Josef Müller-Brockmann. From 1998 – 2009 at feinherb, visual design. Heidrun Osterer & Philipp Stamm, Basel. She is a co-founder and member of the technical commission for the Swiss Foundation for Type and Typography and an advisor to the specialist journal »Typografische Monatsblätter«. Her book with Philipp Stamm, »Adrian Frutiger – Typefaces: the Complete Works«, was published in 2008.