It would be really useful if you could see all binded data in design time in VisualStudio or Blend. To do this you should set page DataContext in xaml: <Page.DataContext> <viewModels:MainPageViewModel /> </Page.DataContext> In this case you will use the same ViewModel for design and run time. If ViewModel require different data loading logic for design and run time you should use Windows.ApplicationModel.DesignMode.DesignModeEnabled in ViewModel constructor to determine in witc...