A method for designing and manufacturing a progressive addition lens, comprising the steps of: a.) providing a first design for a progressive addition surface; b.) calculating a scaled surface power and scaled cylinder power for each of a plurality of base curves, so that a channel length is decreased or increased; c.) using the scaled surface and cylinder powers to generate a set of power and cylinder targets; and d.) optimizing the first design using the power and cylinder targets to produce a second optimized design, by determining a surface that minimizes the function: MF = ∑ x ∑ y w _ p x y ⋅ P x y − Φ x y 2 + w _ c x y ⋅ C x y − cyl x y 2 wherein x and y are points sampled over the surface of the lens; w_p(x,y) is a power weight; P(x,y) is a scaled surface power; Φ(x,y) is a surface power calculated at each point (x,y); w_c(x,y) is a cylinder weight; C(x,y) is a scaled cylinder power; and cyl(x,y) is the surface cylinder calculated at each point (x,y). and wherein the scaled surface powers or cylinder powers are determined in step b.) using the nominal surface power p(x,y) and the nominal cylinder power c(x,y) for the first design according to the following equations: P x y = p x ′, y ′ C x y = c x ′, y ′ wherein p(x',y') is a nominal surface power; c(x',y') a nominal cylinder power; x' = x/x_scale; and y' = (y-shift)/y_scale + shift, so that the y positions of the power and cylinder values in intermediate and near viewing zones, or those below y = shift, are linearly scaled to shorten or lengthen a lower portion of the lens by the factor y_scale, the variable shift being to control a location above which design changes are held to minimum, and the variable x_scale is to increase or decrease widths of design features. a.) providing a first design for a progressive addition surface; b.) calculating a scaled surface power and scaled cylinder power for each of a plurality of base curves, so that a channel length is decreased or increased; c.) using the scaled surface and cylinder powers to generate a set of power and cylinder targets; and d.) optimizing the first design using the power and cylinder targets to produce a second optimized design, by determining a surface that minimizes the function: MF = ∑ x ∑ y w _ p x y ⋅ P x y − Φ x y 2 + w _ c x y ⋅ C x y − cyl x y 2 wherein x and y are points sampled over the surface of the lens; w_p(x,y) is a power weight; P(x,y) is a scaled surface power; Φ(x,y) is a surface power calculated at each point (x,y); w_c(x,y) is a cylinder weight; C(x,y) is a scaled cylinder power; and cyl(x,y) is the surface cylinder calculated at each point (x,y). and wherein the scaled surface powers or cylinder powers are determined in step b.) using the nominal surface power p(x,y) and the nominal cylinder power c(x,y) for the first design according to the following equations: P x y = p x ′, y ′ C x y = c x ′, y ′ wherein p(x',y') is a nominal surface power; c(x',y') a nominal cylinder power; x' = x/x_scale; and y' = (y-shift)/y_scale + shift, so that the y positions of the power and cylinder values in intermediate and near viewing zones, or those below y = shift, are linearly scaled to shorten or lengthen a lower portion of the lens by the factor y_scale, the variable shift being to control a location above which design changes are held to minimum, and the variable x_scale is to increase or decrease widths of design features. wherein x and y are points sampled over the surface of the lens; w_p(x,y) is a power weight; P(x,y) is a scaled surface power; Φ(x,y) is a surface power calculated at each point (x,y); w_c(x,y) is a cylinder weight; C(x,y) is a scaled cylinder power; and cyl(x,y) is the surface cylinder calculated at each point (x,y). and wherein the scaled surface powers or cylinder powers are determined in step b.) using the nominal surface power p(x,y) and the nominal cylinder power c(x,y) for the first design according to the following equations: P x y = p x ′, y ′ C x y = c x ′, y ′ wherein p(x',y') is a nominal surface power; c(x',y') a nominal cylinder power; x' = x/x_scale; and y' = (y-shift)/y_scale + shift, p(x',y') is a nominal surface power; c(x',y') a nominal cylinder power; x' = x/x_scale; and y' = (y-shift)/y_scale + shift,